Osterweis Capital Management Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• Osterweis Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 0.6%, owning 483,754 shares worth approximately $75.6 million, making it the company's 20th largest position.
• During the first quarter, multiple institutional investors significantly increased their stakes in Alphabet, with Nuveen LLC acquiring a new stake worth $2.62 billion.
• Alphabet recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, with a dividend yield of 0.4%, payable on September 15th.

Osterweis Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 0.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 483,754 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 2,815 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 0.0% of Osterweis Capital Management Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest position. Osterweis Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $75,577,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth $2,622,943,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 18,562.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,323,323 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,237,733,000 after acquiring an additional 14,246,573 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,570,922 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $64,299,725,000 after acquiring an additional 9,687,855 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.9% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 102,232,997 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $15,971,861,000 after acquiring an additional 9,243,959 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,873,751,000 after buying an additional 7,917,625 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on GOOG shares. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Lake Street Capital reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Susquehanna reissued a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $210.00 target price (up from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $215.19.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.9%

GOOG stock opened at $202.49 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market cap of $2.45 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.56, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.02. The business's 50-day moving average price is $186.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $174.71.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The company had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the transaction, the insider 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 242,319 shares of company stock valued at $44,243,272. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.

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