Eastern Bank Decreases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Key Points

• Eastern Bank reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 6.7%, holding 75,298 shares worth approximately $11.76 million after selling 5,429 shares in the first quarter.
• Director Kavitark Ram Shriram and CEO Sundar Pichai sold significant portions of their stock, with insiders selling a total of 249,298 shares valued at roughly $43.5 million over the last quarter.
• Alphabet recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, with a yield of 0.43% and a payout ratio of 8.95%.

Eastern Bank trimmed its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 6.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 75,298 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 5,429 shares during the quarter. Eastern Bank's holdings in Alphabet were worth $11,764,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Orca Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Orca Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,316 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,612,000 after acquiring an additional 485 shares during the period. Marshall Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. Marshall Investment Management LLC now owns 16,135 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,521,000 after acquiring an additional 921 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 30,169 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $4,713,000 after buying an additional 722 shares during the period. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 275,195 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $42,955,000 after buying an additional 8,868 shares during the period. Finally, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $11,478,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at $456,991,919.84. The trade was a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 249,298 shares of company stock valued at $43,505,967 over the last quarter. Insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.5%

NASDAQ GOOG traded up $1.01 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $197.44. 21,048,793 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 24,257,904. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.03, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.01. 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 $142.66 and a 1-year high of $208.70. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $178.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $174.69.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued 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 company had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $235.00 price target (up from $220.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Tigress Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Susquehanna reissued a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, BNP Paribas cut Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $215.19.

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.