Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Montag A & Associates Inc.

Montag A & Associates Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 5.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 260,799 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 16,331 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 2.0% of Montag A & Associates Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Montag A & Associates Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $40,745,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 111.8% during the first quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth $26,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth $32,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $38,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total value of $5,992,350.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,527,392 shares in the company, valued at approximately $466,000,536.96. The trade was a 1.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,192,275. This represents a 8.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 215,843 shares of company stock valued at $37,288,490 over the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Barclays reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $186.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Roth Capital restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $208.40.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock traded up $1.24 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $185.94. The company had a trading volume of 20,915,424 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,587,144. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $174.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $174.61. The stock has a market cap of $2.26 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. Alphabet's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a $0.21 dividend. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

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.