Bristol John W & Co. Inc. NY Sells 28,280 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Bristol John W & Co. Inc. NY lowered its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 780,405 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 28,280 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 2.4% of Bristol John W & Co. Inc. NY's holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Bristol John W & Co. Inc. NY's holdings in Alphabet were worth $148,620,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 39.3% during the 4th quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,964 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $945,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares during the period. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,094,000 after purchasing an additional 1,041 shares during the period. Harvest Investment Services LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $824,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the period. North Forty Two & Co. bought a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $281,000. Finally, SageView Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 140.6% during the 4th quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 14,734 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,806,000 after acquiring an additional 8,610 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Citigroup reissued a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Tigress Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Susquehanna reissued a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a "negative" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $203.94.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.6%

NASDAQ GOOG traded up $4.39 on Tuesday, reaching $173.98. The company had a trading volume of 24,291,303 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,134,876. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company's fifty day moving average is $160.54 and its 200 day moving average is $176.49. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Alphabet's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 261,966 shares in the company, valued at $45,844,050. This represents a 3.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 164,654 shares of company stock valued at $26,793,380. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.