Silvant Capital Management LLC Sells 42,724 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• Silvant Capital Management LLC has reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 39.8%, selling 42,724 shares and retaining ownership of 64,503 shares worth approximately $10.08 million at the end of the last quarter.
• Research firms have raised their price targets for Alphabet, with UBS Group increasing its target from $186.00 to $192.00 and Pivotal Research adjusting theirs from $225.00 to $245.00, highlighting a predominantly positive outlook for the stock.
• Alphabet recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, which equates to an annual yield of 0.4%, with a payout ratio of 8.95%.

Silvant Capital Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 39.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 64,503 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 42,724 shares during the period. Silvant Capital Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,077,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. CreativeOne Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 37.9% in the first quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 31,013 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $4,845,000 after purchasing an additional 8,526 shares in the last quarter. Entrewealth LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 15.9% in the first quarter. Entrewealth LLC now owns 2,022 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $316,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 31.6% in the 1st quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 864,029 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $134,987,000 after purchasing an additional 207,571 shares in the last quarter. Warwick Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 38.3% in the 1st quarter. Warwick Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,481 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $544,000 after acquiring an additional 964 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zuckerman Investment Group LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 8.2% during the 1st quarter. Zuckerman Investment Group LLC now owns 8,760 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,369,000 after acquiring an additional 666 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.5%

GOOG stock traded up $1.16 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $213.53. 24,667,279 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 23,664,387. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $190.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $175.38. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $215.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The company has a market capitalization of $2.58 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.74, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on GOOG. Needham & Company LLC cut shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $235.00 price target (up from $220.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Cowen reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $215.19.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. This represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. This trade represents a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 254,710 shares of company stock worth $47,225,230. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.