Baxter Bros Inc. Cuts Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Baxter Bros Inc. lessened its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 4.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 144,816 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 6,077 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 3.0% of Baxter Bros Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Baxter Bros Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $22,625,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 39.3% during the fourth quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,964 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $945,000 after acquiring an additional 1,400 shares during the period. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,094,000 after buying an additional 1,041 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $824,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the period. North Forty Two & Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $281,000. Finally, jvl associates llc boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% in the first quarter. jvl associates llc now owns 10,055 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,571,000 after acquiring an additional 343 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Susquehanna reiterated a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Westpark Capital restated a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $204.88.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG traded up $0.42 on Thursday, reaching $169.81. The stock had a trading volume of 24,698,959 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,311,511. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market capitalization of $2.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $161.29 and a 200-day moving average of $176.14.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its 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. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's payout ratio is 9.36%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.71, for a total transaction of $5,483,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,587,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $436,570,192.16. This trade represents a 1.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 195,770 shares of company stock valued at $32,036,638 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Company 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.