Boston Trust Walden Corp Trims Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Boston Trust Walden Corp lowered its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 7.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,084,185 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 82,869 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 1.2% of Boston Trust Walden Corp's investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Boston Trust Walden Corp's holdings in Alphabet were worth $169,382,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Montz Harcus Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 11.0% in the first quarter. Montz Harcus Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,556 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $712,000 after buying an additional 452 shares during the period. Silverleafe Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Silverleafe Capital Partners LLC now owns 9,540 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,490,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. McHugh Group LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. McHugh Group LLC now owns 16,005 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,500,000 after acquiring an additional 740 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 261,359 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $40,832,000 after acquiring an additional 2,171 shares during the period. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 7,778 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,215,000 after purchasing an additional 232 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.71, for a total value of $5,483,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,587,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $436,570,192.16. The trade was a 1.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. This represents a 19.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Susquehanna reiterated a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Tigress Financial reiterated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $204.88.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of Alphabet stock traded down $3.25 on Thursday, reaching $173.98. 32,365,363 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,579,241. The company has a 50-day moving average of $165.77 and a 200 day moving average of $176.42. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $208.70. The company has a market capitalization of $2.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.40, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - 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, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. Alphabet's payout ratio is 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.