Madrona Financial Services LLC trimmed its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 37.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,769 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 2,862 shares during the quarter. Madrona Financial Services LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $745,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $5,166,070,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,551,533,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $10,873,751,000 after purchasing an additional 7,917,625 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 181,679.1% in the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,376,066,000 after buying an additional 7,221,746 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. KeyCorp dropped their price target on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Needham & Company LLC lowered Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $171.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $204.88.
Read Our Latest Stock Report on GOOG
Alphabet Trading Up 2.2%
Shares of NASDAQ GOOG traded up $3.84 during trading on Friday, hitting $178.27. 73,956,281 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,960,385. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $167.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $176.22. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $208.70.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.
Alphabet Increases Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 9.36%.
Insider Buying and Selling
In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,192,275. This represents a 8.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.68, for a total value of $5,742,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,555,196 shares in the company, valued at approximately $451,452,029.28. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 216,195 shares of company stock valued at $35,764,898. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Alphabet Company Profile
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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.
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