Rice Partnership LLC Lowers Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Rice Partnership LLC decreased its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 8.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 19,973 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 1,837 shares during the period. Rice Partnership LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,120,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tradewinds LLC. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% during the first quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 44,838 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $7,005,000 after acquiring an additional 825 shares during the last quarter. Cloud Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter worth approximately $3,430,000. Forte Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at $645,000. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% in the first quarter. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 7,654 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,196,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Compass Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.5% in the first quarter. Compass Wealth Management LLC now owns 37,221 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,815,000 after buying an additional 536 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of GOOG traded down $2.99 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $177.56. The company's stock had a trading volume of 20,952,880 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,209,159. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $208.70. The stock has a market cap of $2.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.01. The company's 50 day moving average is $169.97 and its 200 day moving average is $175.40.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on GOOG shares. Needham & Company LLC downgraded shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Citigroup reaffirmed a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Scotiabank cut their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and six have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $206.38.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, 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 completion of the sale, the director directly owned 261,966 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,844,050. The trade was a 3.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.87, for a total value of $5,553,275.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,620,196 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $447,712,890.52. This trade represents a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 215,643 shares of company stock worth $36,330,928 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

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.