Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc

AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc trimmed its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 5.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,039,535 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 56,253 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 2.3% of AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc's holdings, making the stock its 8th largest position. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc's holdings in Alphabet were worth $160,634,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Macroview Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 1,293 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $245,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 2,381 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $457,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 7,527 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,425,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Burt Wealth Advisors boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Burt Wealth Advisors now owns 5,307 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,005,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Perritt Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc now owns 618 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $117,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 195,770 shares of company stock valued at $32,036,638 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. 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 report on Wednesday, April 9th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $199.75.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.1%

GOOGL traded up $0.16 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $168.21. The stock had a trading volume of 34,435,308 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,072,382. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $159.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $174.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted 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 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

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.