Barings LLC Sells 2,012 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Key Points

• Barings LLC reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 39% in the first quarter, holding 3,151 shares valued at approximately $492,000.
• Institutional ownership of Alphabet is at 27.26%, with several firms recently acquiring new positions or increasing their stakes.
• Alphabet reported $96.43 billion in revenue for the last quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations and achieving a 13.8% year-over-year increase.

Barings LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 39.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,151 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 2,012 shares during the period. Barings LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $492,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 111.8% during the first quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $26,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Graybill Wealth Management LTD. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $44,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $3,448,820.16. Following the sale, the director directly owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at $456,991,919.84. This trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 249,399 shares of company stock worth $43,525,794. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on GOOG shares. Barclays restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Westpark Capital restated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $215.19.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.5%

GOOG traded down $2.91 during trading on Friday, reaching $189.95. 21,211,425 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 25,077,368. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $179.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $174.53. The stock has a market cap of $2.31 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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