Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Bristol John W & Co. Inc. NY

Bristol John W & Co. Inc. NY reduced 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 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 780,405 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 28,280 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 2.4% of Bristol John W & Co. Inc. NY's portfolio, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,991,725 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $22,470,344,000 after purchasing an additional 3,189,592 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 104,777,092 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $19,894,651,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219,606 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $17,376,706,000 after purchasing an additional 5,758,244 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $10,873,751,000 after purchasing an additional 7,917,625 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 39,148,500 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $7,455,571,000 after purchasing an additional 294,556 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,192,275. This represents a 8.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at $8,181,333.08. The trade was a 19.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 164,654 shares of company stock worth $26,793,380 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC cut Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $203.94.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.3%

GOOG stock traded down $0.60 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $173.38. The company's stock had a trading volume of 24,101,777 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,150,700. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $160.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $176.47. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.54, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

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.