SlateStone Wealth LLC Lowers Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Key Points

• SlateStone Wealth LLC reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 4.2%, now holding 46,751 shares valued at $7.3 million, as reported in their recent SEC filing.
• Wall Street analysts have mixed ratings for Alphabet, with Cowen reaffirming a "buy" rating while Needham & Company downgraded it to "cautious"; the consensus rating remains a "Moderate Buy" with a price target of $215.19.
• Alphabet recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, set to be paid on September 15th, reflecting a 0.43% yield and a dividend payout ratio of 8.95%.

SlateStone Wealth LLC reduced its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 4.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 46,751 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 2,051 shares during the period. SlateStone Wealth LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,304,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,991,725 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $22,470,344,000 after acquiring an additional 3,189,592 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 104,777,092 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $19,894,651,000 after buying an additional 1,219,606 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $17,376,706,000 after buying an additional 5,758,244 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $10,873,751,000 after buying an additional 7,917,625 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 39,148,500 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $7,455,571,000 after buying an additional 294,556 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Cowen reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $210.00 price target (up previously from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $215.19.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 249,298 shares of company stock worth $43,505,967. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $1.01 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $197.44. The company's stock had a trading volume of 21,048,793 shares, compared to its average volume of 24,257,904. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.03, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.01. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average price of $178.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $174.69. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.95%.

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.