NatWest Group plc Cuts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• NatWest Group plc reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 38.5%, holding 56,174 shares valued at approximately $8.69 million, making it the company's 21st largest holding.
• Alphabet's CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares for nearly $6.5 million, which represents a 1.30% decrease in his ownership.
• Alphabet recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, reflecting an annualized yield of 0.4%.

NatWest Group plc reduced its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 38.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 56,174 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 35,120 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 2.6% of NatWest Group plc's holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. NatWest Group plc's holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,687,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth about $4,317,606,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 16,993.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,062,457 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,483,898,000 after acquiring an additional 15,968,487 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 2.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 14,307,345 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 307.6% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,302,644 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,593,201,000 after purchasing an additional 7,774,811 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,375,509,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 42,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,371,905.30. This trade represents a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $200,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,916 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,383,200. This trade represents a 12.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 254,710 shares of company stock worth $49,208,380. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock traded down $0.96 during trading on Monday, hitting $234.04. 32,427,667 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 36,789,105. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $195.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $175.35. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $238.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.92, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.60 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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 issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.95%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JMP Securities increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $191.00 to $224.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $192.00 to $202.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Wedbush raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have issued a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $221.44.

Alphabet Company 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.