Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Tower Bridge Advisors

Key Points

• Tower Bridge Advisors reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 0.9%, owning 199,273 shares valued at $31,132,000, making it the firm’s 4th largest holding.
• Alphabet recently reported EPS of $2.31 for the last quarter, surpassing expectations, and saw revenue increase by 13.8% year-over-year to $96.43 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21, with an annualized yield of 0.43%, set to be paid on September 15th.

Tower Bridge Advisors reduced its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 0.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 199,273 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 1,881 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 3.5% of Tower Bridge Advisors' investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Tower Bridge Advisors' holdings in Alphabet were worth $31,132,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wooster Corthell Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at about $312,000. 360 Financial Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 74.2% during the 1st quarter. 360 Financial Inc. now owns 3,571 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $558,000 after purchasing an additional 1,521 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC now owns 34,299 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,359,000 after acquiring an additional 636 shares during the last quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 590,871 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $92,313,000 after buying an additional 15,862 shares during the period. Finally, Orca Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.9% in the first quarter. Orca Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,316 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,612,000 after buying an additional 485 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. The trade was a 1.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 249,298 shares of company stock worth $43,505,967 over the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on GOOG. Needham & Company LLC downgraded shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Lake Street Capital reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Barclays reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $215.19.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.5%

Alphabet stock traded up $1.01 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $197.44. 21,048,793 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 24,257,904. The firm has a market cap of $2.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.03, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70. The company's 50-day moving average is $178.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $174.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

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.