Epoch Investment Partners Inc. Has $124.85 Million Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• Epoch Investment Partners Inc. reduced its holdings in Alphabet Inc. by 14.7%, selling 137,173 shares and now owning 799,134 shares worth approximately $124.8 million.
• CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet, resulting in a 1.25% decrease in his ownership, while overall, insiders sold 254,719 shares valued at $47.2 million in the last quarter.
• Alphabet's latest earnings report showed an EPS of $2.31, exceeding expectations, with quarterly revenue of $96.43 billion, reflecting a 13.8% year-over-year increase.

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 14.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 799,134 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 137,173 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $124,849,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,570,922 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $64,299,725,000 after acquiring an additional 9,687,855 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.9% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 102,232,997 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $15,971,861,000 after acquiring an additional 9,243,959 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 7,917,625 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 34,103,417 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,494,655,000 after acquiring an additional 769,335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 30,827,999 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,870,944,000 after acquiring an additional 1,467,805 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.1%

GOOG stock traded up $0.26 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $208.21. 15,225,916 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,293,208. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The firm has a market cap of $2.52 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.02. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $189.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $175.22. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.66 and a 1-year high of $211.09.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.79, for a total value of $122,274.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,316 shares in the company, valued at $1,287,137.64. This trade represents a 8.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 15,000 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $2,786,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 240,400 shares in the company, valued at $44,656,704. This trade represents a 5.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 254,719 shares of company stock valued at $47,223,172 over the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $210.00 price target (up from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. BNP Paribas cut Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Tigress Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Roth Capital restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $215.19.

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.