MetLife Investment Management LLC Sells 49,609 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• MetLife Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 2.7%, selling 49,609 shares, now owning a total of 1,756,755 shares valued at approximately $271.67 million.
• Insider Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares at an average price of $199.92, resulting in a 1.30% decrease in his ownership, while overall insider sales totaled $47.22 million in the last quarter.
• Alphabet announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, reflecting an annualized payout of $0.84 and a yield of 0.4%, with an ex-dividend date set for September 8th.

MetLife Investment Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 2.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,756,755 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 49,609 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.5% of MetLife Investment Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. MetLife Investment Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $271,665,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $78,839,544,000 after purchasing an additional 14,307,345 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Alphabet by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 66,050,135 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $12,503,291,000 after purchasing an additional 9,042,271 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 43,648,514 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $6,749,806,000 after purchasing an additional 593,345 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 39,792,300 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $6,153,481,000 after purchasing an additional 727,335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 38,556,577 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,962,389,000 after purchasing an additional 104,859 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.92, for a total transaction of $6,497,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,462,392 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $492,281,408.64. This represents a 1.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. The trade was a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 254,719 shares of company stock valued at $47,223,172 in the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $207.14 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The stock has a market cap of $2.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $188.07 and a 200-day moving average of $173.51. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $210.52.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The business had revenue of $96,428,000 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.60 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citizens Jmp raised Alphabet from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, June 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $196.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, JMP Securities boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Four investment 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 MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $211.53.

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.

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.