Conning Inc. Sells 6,019 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Conning Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 9.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 57,922 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 6,019 shares during the quarter. Conning Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,957,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 27,075 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,187,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $3,119,000. Cypress Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. Cypress Capital LLC now owns 14,310 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,213,000 after buying an additional 563 shares during the last quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,035,000 after buying an additional 403 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Community Bank N.A. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $8,741,000 after buying an additional 2,790 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 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 $105,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,192,275. This represents a 8.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,837,500.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 261,966 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,844,050. The trade was a 3.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 215,643 shares of company stock valued at $36,330,928 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 target price (down from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Roth Mkm reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. JMP Securities upgraded Alphabet from a "market perform" rating to a "market outperform" rating and set a $220.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their target price on Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $199.61.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL traded up $2.57 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $180.19. The stock had a trading volume of 34,243,157 shares, compared to its average volume of 31,878,935. The company's 50-day moving average is $170.32 and its 200 day moving average is $173.46. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $207.05. 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 company has a market capitalization of $2.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. 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.