Grove Bank & Trust reduced its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 9.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 38,516 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 3,881 shares during the quarter. Grove Bank & Trust's holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,017,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $5,166,070,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $2,237,733,000 after purchasing an additional 14,246,573 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $1,551,533,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $10,873,751,000 after buying an additional 7,917,625 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 181,679.1% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,376,066,000 after buying an additional 7,221,746 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Alphabet Stock Performance
Shares of GOOG stock opened at $177.94 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $165.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.16 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.10, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.
Alphabet Increases Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of research analysts recently commented on GOOG shares. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Scotiabank decreased their price target on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Westpark Capital restated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $204.88.
Read Our Latest Stock Report on Alphabet
About Alphabet
(
Free Report)
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.
See Also
Want to see what other hedge funds are holding GOOG? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report).

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