Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC

Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 5.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 107,116 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 5,713 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 0.4% of Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $16,564,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $24,383,677,000. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $47,025,322,000 after buying an additional 22,100,902 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 16,993.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,062,457 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,483,898,000 after buying an additional 15,968,487 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,178,470,000 after buying an additional 10,135,430 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,635,878,000 after buying an additional 10,037,685 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $180.19 on Monday. The business's fifty day moving average price is $170.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $173.15. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.19 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $200.00 price objective (down from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Citizens Jmp raised Alphabet from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Mizuho decreased their target price on Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Westpark Capital restated a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $199.61.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company'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 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,192,275. This trade represents a 8.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 215,443 shares of company stock valued at $36,298,548 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.55% 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.

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