Oakworth Capital Inc. Sells 2,757 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Oakworth Capital Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 1.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 176,735 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 2,757 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.9% of Oakworth Capital Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Oakworth Capital Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $27,611,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,166,070,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 18,562.3% during the first 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 position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,551,533,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 16.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 7,917,625 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 181,679.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 7,221,746 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $171.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective 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. Finally, Susquehanna restated a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and six have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $206.38.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,555,196 shares of the company's stock, valued at $451,452,029.28. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,837,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 261,966 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,844,050. This represents a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 216,195 shares of company stock valued at $35,764,898 over the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG traded up $3.84 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $178.27. 73,956,281 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,984,165. The firm has a market cap of $2.16 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.87, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.01. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $167.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $176.02. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a $0.21 dividend. 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 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.