Dodge & Cox Reduces Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Dodge & Cox has reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 3.4%, selling 409,480 shares, and now holds approximately $1.79 billion worth of GOOGL stock.
• Alphabet's recent quarterly earnings exceeded expectations, reporting $2.31 earnings per share against a forecast of $2.15, with revenues of $96.43 billion.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21, set to be paid on September 15th, representing a 0.4% annual yield.

Dodge & Cox lessened its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 3.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,595,682 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 409,480 shares during the period. Dodge & Cox owned 0.10% of Alphabet worth $1,793,156,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Mystic Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. now owns 28,454 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $4,400,000 after purchasing an additional 1,791 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 27,075 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $4,187,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,119,000. Cypress Capital LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 4.1% in the first quarter. Cypress Capital LLC now owns 14,310 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,213,000 after acquiring an additional 563 shares during the period. Finally, Falcon Wealth Planning increased its stake in Alphabet by 15.7% during the first quarter. Falcon Wealth Planning now owns 9,898 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,531,000 after acquiring an additional 1,340 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of GOOGL opened at $207.14 on Wednesday. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $188.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $173.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $210.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The firm had revenue of $96,428,000 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.60 billion. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at $8,371,905.30. This represents a 35.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.92, for a total value of $6,497,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,462,392 shares in the company, valued at $492,281,408.64. This represents a 1.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 254,719 shares of company stock worth $47,223,172 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Susquehanna upped their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Loop Capital reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $190.00 target price (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $211.53.

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.

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