Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Midwest Professional Planners LTD.

Midwest Professional Planners LTD. reduced its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 17.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,069 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 1,946 shares during the quarter. Midwest Professional Planners LTD.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,417,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. Wealthfront Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.1% in the first quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 511,515 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $79,914,000 after buying an additional 29,295 shares during the last quarter. GPM Growth Investors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.9% during the first quarter. GPM Growth Investors Inc. now owns 2,486 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $388,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the period. Landaas & Co. WI ADV increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 15.5% during the first quarter. Landaas & Co. WI ADV now owns 1,975 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $309,000 after acquiring an additional 265 shares during the period. Pinkerton Retirement Specialists LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 14.8% during the first quarter. Pinkerton Retirement Specialists LLC now owns 12,439 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,943,000 after acquiring an additional 1,608 shares during the period. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% during the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 663,582 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $103,671,000 after acquiring an additional 20,160 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.5%

NASDAQ GOOG traded up $0.93 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $184.70. 21,615,710 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,529,374. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $208.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.24 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.59, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a 50 day moving average of $172.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $174.80.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a $0.21 dividend. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 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 value of $105,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,192,275. This trade represents a 8.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 261,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,844,050. The trade was a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 215,843 shares of company stock worth $37,288,490. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Tigress Financial reiterated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "equal weight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Citizens Jmp raised shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $208.40.

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.