Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Mathes Company Inc.

Mathes Company Inc. lowered its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 43.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,841 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 3,010 shares during the quarter. Mathes Company Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $600,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 39.3% during the 4th quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,964 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $945,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.2% in the 1st quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 14,907 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,329,000 after purchasing an additional 1,376 shares during the period. Harvest Investment Services LLC boosted its position 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 period. North Forty Two & Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $281,000. Finally, Fermata Advisors LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 9,771 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,527,000 after acquiring an additional 259 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 9,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,575,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 255,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $44,695,000. This represents a 3.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at $456,991,919.84. This trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 215,643 shares of company stock worth $36,330,928 over the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on GOOG shares. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. Susquehanna reissued a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their price objective on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and six have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $207.13.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG traded up $2.61 on Friday, hitting $181.31. The company had a trading volume of 23,949,486 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,450,262. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $208.70. The business has a 50 day moving average of $171.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $174.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.20 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.21, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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