Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is Provident Trust Co.'s Largest Position

Provident Trust Co. trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 0.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,442,441 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 31,603 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 10.0% of Provident Trust Co.'s portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Provident Trust Co.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $537,813,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,991,725 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $22,470,344,000 after purchasing an additional 3,189,592 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 104,777,092 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $19,894,651,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219,606 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Alphabet by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $17,376,706,000 after purchasing an additional 5,758,244 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Alphabet by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $10,873,751,000 after purchasing an additional 7,917,625 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 39,148,500 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $7,455,571,000 after purchasing an additional 294,556 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the topic of several research reports. BNP Paribas downgraded Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Barclays reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Susquehanna reaffirmed a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and six have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $208.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 400 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.98, for a total transaction of $72,792.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,094,245.74. This trade represents a 6.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 9,000 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,575,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 255,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at $44,695,000. The trade was a 3.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 183,343 shares of company stock valued at $31,296,140. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG traded up $0.67 on Wednesday, reaching $183.77. 21,124,587 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,528,868. The company's 50-day moving average price is $172.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $174.80. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.23 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.49, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

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.