Van Cleef Asset Management Inc Lowers Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Van Cleef Asset Management Inc decreased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 2.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 88,033 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 2,587 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 1.6% of Van Cleef Asset Management Inc's holdings, making the stock its 16th largest position. Van Cleef Asset Management Inc's holdings in Alphabet were worth $13,753,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the first quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC now owns 28,956 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,524,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Advisory Solutions LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 496.9% during the first quarter. Wealth Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 18,654 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,914,000 after buying an additional 15,529 shares during the last quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 13.0% during the first quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,954 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $774,000 after buying an additional 571 shares during the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.8% during the first quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 58,031 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $9,066,000 after buying an additional 2,658 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cornerstone Planning Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 22.4% during the first quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 2,855 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $450,000 after buying an additional 522 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at $456,991,919.84. The trade was a 1.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,192,275. This represents a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 215,643 shares of company stock valued at $36,330,928. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Tigress Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Roth Capital restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and six have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $207.13.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.5%

GOOG stock traded up $2.61 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $181.31. The stock had a trading volume of 23,949,486 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,450,262. The firm has a market cap of $2.20 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $208.70. The company's 50-day moving average price is $171.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $174.92.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. Alphabet's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a $0.21 dividend. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Alphabet 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.