Calamos Advisors LLC Trims Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Calamos Advisors LLC reduced its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 10.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 961,458 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 117,852 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 0.7% of Calamos Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. Calamos Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $150,209,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC now owns 31,967 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $6,088,000 after acquiring an additional 380 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% during the fourth 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 period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 506,535 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $96,465,000 after acquiring an additional 20,855 shares during the period. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 52,003 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $9,903,000 after acquiring an additional 5,850 shares during the period. Finally, Ring Mountain Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $667,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. The trade was a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 9,000 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,575,000.00. Following the sale, 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 215,643 shares of company stock worth $36,330,928. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $180.22 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a 50 day moving average of $169.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $175.60.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Susquehanna reissued a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Needham & Company LLC lowered shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Westpark Capital reissued a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and six have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $206.38.

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.

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