Fifth Third Bancorp Trims Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Fifth Third Bancorp cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 2.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,223,857 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 31,812 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp's holdings in Alphabet were worth $191,203,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. Simon Quick Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 19.9% in the first quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 49,504 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $7,734,000 after purchasing an additional 8,222 shares in the last quarter. Zhang Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.7% in the first quarter. Zhang Financial LLC now owns 14,862 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,322,000 after acquiring an additional 396 shares in the last quarter. Magnolia Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 32.6% in the first quarter. Magnolia Private Wealth LLC now owns 4,349 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $679,000 after acquiring an additional 1,070 shares in the last quarter. Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% during the first quarter. Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,595 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,593,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares during the period. Finally, Investment Partners Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% in the first quarter. Investment Partners Asset Management Inc. now owns 8,928 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,395,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on GOOG. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. Needham & Company LLC downgraded shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $204.88.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock traded down $0.52 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $176.45. 13,534,646 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 23,062,027. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market cap of $2.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $208.70. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $163.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.27.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The business's revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.71, for a total value of $5,483,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,587,696 shares in the company, valued at $436,570,192.16. This trade represents a 1.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at $8,181,333.08. This represents a 19.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

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.