Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Central Valley Advisors LLC

Central Valley Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 39.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,495 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 2,893 shares during the quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $702,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,991,725 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $22,470,344,000 after acquiring an additional 3,189,592 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position 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 valued at $19,894,651,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219,606 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position 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 valued at $17,376,706,000 after purchasing an additional 5,758,244 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position 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 valued at $10,873,751,000 after purchasing an additional 7,917,625 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its position 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 valued at $7,455,571,000 after purchasing an additional 294,556 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of Alphabet 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. This represents a 19.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 195,570 shares of company stock valued at $32,003,532 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities raised Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Susquehanna reissued a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Tigress Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group cut their target price on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $204.88.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG stock traded down $1.82 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $176.97. The company had a trading volume of 17,305,386 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,459,392. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $163.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.27. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70. The stock has a market cap of $2.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.98, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. The company's revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This is a boost 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 is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.