Gamco Investors INC. ET AL Lowers Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• Gamco Investors INC. ET AL sold 13,461 shares of Alphabet Inc., reducing its stake by 5.8% to 218,274 shares valued at approximately $34.1 million.
• Alphabet's stock is currently valued at around $209.16, with significant year-to-date growth and a market capitalization of $2.53 trillion.
• In recent earnings, Alphabet reported an EPS of $2.31, exceeding estimates, and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, reflecting a modest payout ratio of 8.95%.

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL reduced its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 5.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 218,274 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 13,461 shares during the quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL's holdings in Alphabet were worth $34,101,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the first quarter worth about $2,622,943,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 18,562.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,323,323 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,237,733,000 after purchasing an additional 14,246,573 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,570,922 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $64,299,725,000 after purchasing an additional 9,687,855 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.9% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 102,232,997 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $15,971,861,000 after buying an additional 9,243,959 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 7,917,625 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG stock traded up $0.26 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $208.21. The stock had a trading volume of 15,225,916 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,293,208. The company has a market cap of $2.52 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $211.09. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $189.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $175.22.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be given 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on GOOG shares. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $186.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Lake Street Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $210.00 price objective (up previously from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $215.19.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $3,448,820.16. Following the sale, the director owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. This trade represents a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 254,719 shares of company stock valued at $47,223,172. 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.