Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by Smart Portfolios LLC

Smart Portfolios LLC decreased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 57.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,660 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 2,245 shares during the period. Smart Portfolios LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $257,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $24,383,677,000. FMR LLC grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 22,100,902 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 15,968,487 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 10,135,430 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 10,037,685 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 9,000 shares of the 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 $1,575,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 255,400 shares in the company, valued at $44,695,000. This represents a 3.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at $456,991,919.84. This represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 215,643 shares of company stock worth $36,330,928 over the last ninety days. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating and issued a $203.00 price objective (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $199.95.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of GOOGL opened at $179.08 on Friday. 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 firm's 50-day moving average is $168.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $174.08. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.17 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.96, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

About Alphabet

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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