Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Sarasin & Partners LLP

Sarasin & Partners LLP decreased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 10.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 93,835 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 11,463 shares during the period. Sarasin & Partners LLP's holdings in Alphabet were worth $14,660,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOG. Integral Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 88.7% during the first quarter. Integral Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 5,059 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $790,000 after buying an additional 2,378 shares during the last quarter. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 20,485 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,200,000 after acquiring an additional 473 shares in the last quarter. Curated Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 10.3% during the first quarter. Curated Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,928 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $926,000 after acquiring an additional 555 shares during the last quarter. Dividend Assets Capital LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 4.1% during the first quarter. Dividend Assets Capital LLC now owns 2,522 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $394,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First National Bank of Mount Dora Trust Investment Services boosted its stake in Alphabet by 68.4% in the first quarter. First National Bank of Mount Dora Trust Investment Services now owns 55,236 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $8,630,000 after acquiring an additional 22,445 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Tigress Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Westpark Capital reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a "neutral" rating and set a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Susquehanna reaffirmed a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $204.88.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.4%

NASDAQ GOOG traded down $0.80 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $177.99. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,138,075 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,417,432. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $163.42 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $176.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Alphabet's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. The trade was a 19.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.