UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC Sells 2,062,713 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• UBS Asset Management Americas LLC reduced its holdings in Alphabet Inc. by 6.0% in Q1, owning approximately 32 million shares post-sale, making it the 8th largest position in their portfolio.
• Alphabet's most recent quarterly earnings showed a net margin of 31.12% and revenue of $96.43 billion, exceeding analysts' expectations.
• Alphabet announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, which will be paid to investors on September 15th, reflecting a yield of 0.4%.

UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC cut its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 6.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 32,040,704 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 2,062,713 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 1.3% of UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC owned 0.26% of Alphabet worth $5,005,719,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $22,901,000 after acquiring an additional 6,410 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its position in Alphabet by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 506,535 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $96,465,000 after purchasing an additional 20,855 shares during the period. Gotham Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 54,455 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,370,000 after purchasing an additional 1,470 shares during the period. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP now owns 23,331 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $4,443,000 after purchasing an additional 1,241 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lionshead Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $487,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.73, for a total transaction of $7,466,225.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,429,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at $558,219,089.16. This represents a 1.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,371,905.30. This represents a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 254,710 shares of company stock worth $49,208,380. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on GOOG shares. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $210.00 price objective (up from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Barclays reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. KeyCorp set a $265.00 target price on Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Roth Capital restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Alphabet from $232.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $227.56.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of GOOG traded up $0.60 on Friday, hitting $241.38. The company's stock had a trading volume of 14,077,016 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,918,375. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $201.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $178.39. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $242.57. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.92 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.01.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.95%.

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.