Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC Reduces Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC has reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 6.7% during the first quarter, now holding approximately 1.29 million shares valued at about $199.76 million.
• Company insiders, including Director Kavitark Ram Shriram and CEO Sundar Pichai, sold significant amounts of stock, with total sales over the last quarter amounting to 222,210 shares valued at $41.74 million.
• Alphabet has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, to be paid on September 15th, representing an annualized yield of 0.4%.

Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC reduced its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 6.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,291,788 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 93,264 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 4.8% of Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $199,762,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 1.8% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 596,896 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $92,304,000 after purchasing an additional 10,327 shares during the period. Alexis Investment Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Alexis Investment Partners LLC now owns 3,367 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $520,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the period. American Trust Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. American Trust Investment Advisors LLC now owns 38,438 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,944,000 after buying an additional 416 shares during the period. Amundi raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 11.8% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 33,403,871 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,034,992,000 after buying an additional 3,537,173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ancora Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.6% in the first quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 93,629 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $14,479,000 after buying an additional 1,451 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 15,000 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $2,786,400.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 240,400 shares in the company, valued at $44,656,704. This trade represents a 5.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.79, for a total transaction of $122,274.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,316 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,287,137.64. The trade was a 8.68% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 254,710 shares of company stock valued at $49,208,380 over the last ninety days. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of GOOGL traded up $2.70 on Friday, hitting $235.00. The company's stock had a trading volume of 46,562,292 shares, compared to its average volume of 33,713,716. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $195.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $175.48. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $235.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.95%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Wall Street Zen cut Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday. JMP Securities increased their target price on Alphabet from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Citizens Jmp upgraded Alphabet from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price target on Alphabet from $230.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have assigned a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $222.33.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.