Davidson Investment Advisors Sells 53,292 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Davidson Investment Advisors trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 10.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 472,365 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 53,292 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 3.6% of Davidson Investment Advisors' holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Davidson Investment Advisors' holdings in Alphabet were worth $73,798,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,166,070,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 18,562.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,323,323 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,237,733,000 after purchasing an additional 14,246,573 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $1,551,533,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 181,679.1% in the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,376,066,000 after buying an additional 7,221,746 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Susquehanna reiterated a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Roth Capital restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Tigress Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and six have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $207.63.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG traded up $2.50 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $177.66. 31,251,906 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,341,583. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $170.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $175.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.16 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The business 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. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a $0.21 dividend. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other 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 sale, the director owned 261,966 shares in the company, valued at $45,844,050. This represents a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,192,275. This trade represents a 8.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 215,643 shares of company stock worth $36,330,928 in the last three months. 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.