Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by Rice Partnership LLC

Rice Partnership LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 33.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 55,134 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 27,578 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.8% of Rice Partnership LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Rice Partnership LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,526,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $24,383,677,000. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $47,025,322,000 after acquiring an additional 22,100,902 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 16,993.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,062,457 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,483,898,000 after acquiring an additional 15,968,487 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,178,470,000 after acquiring an additional 10,135,430 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,635,878,000 after acquiring an additional 10,037,685 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on GOOGL shares. Roth Mkm reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Roth Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $205.00 price target (up previously from $180.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $199.61.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL traded up $2.57 on Friday, reaching $180.19. The stock had a trading volume of 34,243,157 shares, compared to its average volume of 31,915,001. 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 Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $207.05. The business's 50-day moving average price is $170.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $173.31. The stock has a market cap of $2.19 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,192,275. The trade was a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 261,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,844,050. The trade was a 3.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 215,643 shares of company stock valued at $36,330,928. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

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.