Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc's 9th Largest Position

AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc cut its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 6.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,015,385 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 69,366 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 2.3% of AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc's portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc's holdings in Alphabet were worth $158,491,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 39.3% in the 4th quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,964 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $945,000 after buying an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,094,000 after acquiring an additional 1,041 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $824,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. North Forty Two & Co. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $281,000. Finally, jvl associates llc boosted its stake in Alphabet by 3.5% during the first quarter. jvl associates llc now owns 10,055 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,571,000 after acquiring an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 261,966 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,844,050. This trade represents a 3.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 195,770 shares of company stock valued at $32,036,638. Insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.2%

NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $0.42 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $169.81. 24,768,167 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,311,637. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $161.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.14. The company has a market cap of $2.06 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Needham & Company LLC lowered shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Benchmark reiterated a "negative" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Susquehanna restated a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $204.88.

About Alphabet

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.