American Century Companies Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• American Century Companies Inc. has reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 2.7% to approximately 21.9 million shares after selling 617,580 shares in the first quarter.
• CEO Sundar Pichai and insider John Kent Walker sold a significant number of shares, decreasing their respective holdings by 1.30% and 35.65%.
• The stock price of Alphabet traded up by 0.2%, reaching $199.75, as the company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share to be distributed on September 15th.

American Century Companies Inc. trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 2.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,856,343 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 617,580 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 2.1% of American Century Companies Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.18% of Alphabet worth $3,379,865,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at $4,317,606,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 16,993.2% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,062,457 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,483,898,000 after purchasing an additional 15,968,487 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $78,839,544,000 after purchasing an additional 14,307,345 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $13,178,470,000 after purchasing an additional 10,135,430 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 15.9% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 66,050,135 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $12,503,291,000 after purchasing an additional 9,042,271 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. BNP Paribas lowered Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Alphabet from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Alphabet from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on Alphabet from $196.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Alphabet from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $211.53.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the transaction, the director owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $200,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,383,200. This represents a 12.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 254,719 shares of company stock worth $47,223,172 in the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL traded up $6.34 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $206.09. The company's stock had a trading volume of 42,770,206 shares, compared to its average volume of 31,370,868. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $208.54. The company has a market capitalization of $2.49 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $186.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $173.12.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The company had revenue of $96,428,000 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.95%.

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.