HighTower Advisors LLC Has $339.18 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Key Points

• HighTower Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 4.3%, now holding approximately 2.17 million shares valued at $339 million.
• Multiple institutional investors, including Principia Wealth Advisory, increased their positions in Alphabet, signaling investor confidence despite recent sales by insiders.
• Alphabet announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, with the payment date set for September 15th, reflecting an annualized yield of 0.4%.

HighTower Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 4.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,171,016 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 97,268 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $339,178,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the first quarter worth approximately $2,622,943,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 18,562.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,323,323 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,237,733,000 after buying an additional 14,246,573 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,570,922 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $64,299,725,000 after buying an additional 9,687,855 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 9.9% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 102,232,997 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $15,971,861,000 after acquiring an additional 9,243,959 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $10,873,751,000 after acquiring an additional 7,917,625 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Susquehanna restated a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Roth Capital restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a "neutral" rating and set a $171.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $215.19.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG stock traded down $1.13 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $203.03. 19,558,050 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 24,310,356. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.46 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.62, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $183.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $174.55. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $208.70.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.23, for a total value of $6,377,475.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,494,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at $489,572,657.16. The trade was a 1.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 15,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $2,786,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 240,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at $44,656,704. This represents a 5.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 274,219 shares of company stock worth $49,674,273. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.