Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Middleton & Co. Inc. MA

Middleton & Co. Inc. MA lessened its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 5.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 39,694 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 2,253 shares during the period. Middleton & Co. Inc. MA's holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,201,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $17,376,706,000 after purchasing an additional 5,758,244 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,873,751,000 after buying an additional 7,917,625 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 39,148,500 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $7,455,571,000 after buying an additional 294,556 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 34,103,417 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,494,655,000 after buying an additional 769,335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 14.5% during the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 33,504,543 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $6,380,605,000 after acquiring an additional 4,247,379 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 3.1%

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $195.75 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $179.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $174.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.37 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.02. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

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 for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. The company 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's payout ratio is 8.95%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Roth Capital reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Needham & Company LLC downgraded Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Piper Sandler restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $235.00 target price (up from $220.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $215.19.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the transaction, the director owned 243,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. This represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 249,399 shares of company stock worth $43,525,794. 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.

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