Washington Trust Advisors Inc. Sells 3,464 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Washington Trust Advisors Inc. reduced its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 1.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 178,666 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 3,464 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 2.5% of Washington Trust Advisors Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Washington Trust Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $27,629,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kendall Capital Management increased its holdings in Alphabet by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Kendall Capital Management now owns 19,165 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,964,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the period. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 13.8% in the 1st quarter. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,349 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,136,000 after buying an additional 891 shares during the last quarter. Northwest Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% during the first quarter. Northwest Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,000 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $464,000 after buying an additional 91 shares during the period. Albion Financial Group UT raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% during the first quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 264,213 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $40,858,000 after acquiring an additional 1,691 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amalgamated Bank lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1.8% in the first quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 1,281,303 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $198,141,000 after acquiring an additional 22,700 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. BNP Paribas Exane reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $172.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $203.00 target price (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "neutral" rating and set a $189.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Westpark Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.95.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of Alphabet 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 sale, the director owned 6,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,192,275. This trade represents a 8.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.87, for a total value of $5,553,275.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,620,196 shares in the company, valued at approximately $447,712,890.52. This represents a 1.23% 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. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL traded down $2.74 on Monday, hitting $176.79. 34,110,803 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 31,600,813. The business's 50 day moving average price is $168.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $173.77. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week 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 $2.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during 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. Equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.