Gamco Investors INC. ET AL Cuts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Gamco Investors INC. ET AL reduced its holdings in Alphabet Inc. by 12.0%, selling 7,794 shares and ending the quarter with 57,037 shares valued at approximately $8.82 million.
• Insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares valued at over $4.6 million, representing a 35.65% decrease in his ownership stake in the company.
• Alphabet announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, with a dividend yield of 0.4%, showing a payout ratio of 8.95%.

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL decreased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 12.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 57,037 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 7,794 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL's holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,820,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 1.7% in the first quarter. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC now owns 5,814 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $899,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Aristides Capital LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 25.1% in the first quarter. Aristides Capital LLC now owns 68,680 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $10,621,000 after acquiring an additional 13,800 shares in the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 2.4% in the first quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,061,948 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $164,220,000 after acquiring an additional 24,978 shares in the last quarter. FORA Capital LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 755.2% in the first quarter. FORA Capital LLC now owns 53,448 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $8,265,000 after acquiring an additional 47,198 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 26.7% in the first quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 297,188 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $45,957,000 after acquiring an additional 62,548 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 15,000 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 $2,786,400.00. Following the sale, the director owned 240,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $44,656,704. This represents a 5.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 254,608 shares of company stock worth $47,204,035 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.0%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $211.64 on Friday. 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 capitalization of $2.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.54, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $189.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $173.92. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $212.22.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors 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 payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Alphabet from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Loop Capital reiterated a "hold" rating and issued a $190.00 price target (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. JMP Securities raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $192.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $211.53.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding GOOGL? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.