Rafferty Asset Management LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Rafferty Asset Management LLC reduced its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.7%, ending the first quarter with 698,364 shares valued at approximately $108 million after selling 34,259 shares.
• Alphabet's quarterly earnings beat analyst estimates, reporting $2.31 EPS on revenues of $96.43 billion, which was higher than the expected $93.60 billion.
• The company has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, with a dividend yield of 0.4%, payable on September 15th to shareholders recorded by September 8th.

Rafferty Asset Management LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 4.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 698,364 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 34,259 shares during the quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $107,995,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mystic Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 6.7% during the first quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. now owns 28,454 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,400,000 after purchasing an additional 1,791 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co boosted its position in Alphabet by 0.3% during the first quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 27,075 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,187,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,119,000. Cypress Capital LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 4.1% during the first quarter. Cypress Capital LLC now owns 14,310 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,213,000 after purchasing an additional 563 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Falcon Wealth Planning boosted its position in Alphabet by 15.7% during the first quarter. Falcon Wealth Planning now owns 9,898 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,531,000 after purchasing an additional 1,340 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $211.64 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $212.22. 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 stock has a market cap of $2.56 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $189.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $173.92.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. 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 currently 8.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America increased their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. BNP Paribas Exane reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $172.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, June 27th. Wedbush increased their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on Alphabet from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $211.53.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.92, for a total value of $6,497,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,462,392 shares in the company, valued at approximately $492,281,408.64. This represents a 1.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 15,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $2,786,400.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 240,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $44,656,704. This trade represents a 5.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 254,608 shares of company stock worth $47,204,035 in the last three months. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Alphabet 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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