Covestor Ltd Reduces Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Key Points

• Covestor Ltd has reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 29.1% during the first quarter, now holding 3,708 shares valued at approximately $580,000.
• Several institutional investors have increased their holdings in Alphabet, with 27.26% of the stock now owned by hedge funds and other investors.
• Alphabet recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, representing an annualized yield of 0.4%, which will be paid on September 15th to stockholders on record by September 8th.

Covestor Ltd trimmed its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 29.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,708 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 1,525 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 0.4% of Covestor Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Covestor Ltd's holdings in Alphabet were worth $580,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.3% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Family Office Research LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $214,000. Finally, Eley Financial Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Eley Financial Management Inc now owns 24,591 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,683,000 after acquiring an additional 245 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the transaction, the director owned 243,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,213,984. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at $456,991,919.84. This trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 273,219 shares of company stock valued at $49,474,273. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GOOG. Barclays reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Needham & Company LLC lowered shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Piper Sandler restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Westpark Capital restated a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $215.19.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG opened at $202.11 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.44 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.52, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.02. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.66 and a 1-year high of $208.70. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $181.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $174.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The company's revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's payout ratio is 8.95%.

Alphabet 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.