AustralianSuper Pty Ltd Trims Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd lowered its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 89.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 57,420 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 465,754 shares during the period. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd's holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,971,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $22,901,000 after acquiring an additional 6,410 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 506,535 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $96,465,000 after buying an additional 20,855 shares during the period. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 32.9% in the 4th quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 343 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Washington Trust Bank boosted its position in Alphabet by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Washington Trust Bank now owns 8,539 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,626,000 after buying an additional 524 shares during the period. Finally, Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,427,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 400 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.98, for a total transaction of $72,792.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,013 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,094,245.74. This trade represents a 6.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 9,000 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,575,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 255,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at $44,695,000. The trade was a 3.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 215,843 shares of company stock valued at $37,288,490. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOG traded up $1.24 on Friday, reaching $185.94. 20,915,424 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,587,144. The stock has a market cap of $2.26 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.01. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $208.70. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $174.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $174.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Westpark Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Tigress Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $208.40.

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.