Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Holdings Cut by American Century Companies Inc.

Key Points

• American Century Companies Inc. has reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 2.3%, holding approximately 12.25 million shares, which accounts for 1.2% of its total holdings.
• Alphabet reported strong quarterly earnings with an EPS of $2.31, surpassing estimates, and demonstrated a 13.8% increase in revenue year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, with a dividend yield of 0.4%, highlighting its commitment to returning value to shareholders.

American Century Companies Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 2.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,253,801 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 283,483 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 1.2% of American Century Companies Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest position. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.10% of Alphabet worth $1,914,412,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 111.8% in the first quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Graybill Wealth Management LTD. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $44,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Roth Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Pivotal Research lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Westpark Capital reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated a "neutral" rating and set a $171.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $215.19.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG opened at $203.82 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $184.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $174.82.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. The trade was a 1.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 274,819 shares of company stock valued at $49,796,547 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding GOOG? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.