US Bancorp DE Trims Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Key Points

• US Bancorp DE reduced its holdings in Alphabet Inc. by 0.7%, now owning 2,028,911 shares valued at approximately $316.98 million.
• Alphabet's stock experienced a 1.5% decline recently, trading at $189.95, while the company has a market cap of $2.31 trillion.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21, with a payout ratio of 8.95%, payable on September 15th.

US Bancorp DE reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 0.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,028,911 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 15,245 shares during the quarter. US Bancorp DE's holdings in Alphabet were worth $316,977,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 18,562.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,323,323 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,237,733,000 after acquiring an additional 14,246,573 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Alphabet by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,873,751,000 after acquiring an additional 7,917,625 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in Alphabet by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $17,376,706,000 after acquiring an additional 5,758,244 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 14.5% during the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 33,504,543 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,380,605,000 after buying an additional 4,247,379 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $786,942,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Pivotal Research increased their price target on Alphabet from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Roth Capital reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Westpark Capital reissued a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Rosenblatt Securities raised Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. 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 company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $215.19.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The shares were 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 represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at $456,991,919.84. This represents a 1.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 249,399 shares of company stock valued at $43,525,794. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG traded down $2.91 during trading on Friday, reaching $189.95. The company's stock had a trading volume of 21,211,425 shares, compared to its average volume of 25,077,368. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $208.70. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $179.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $174.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.31 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 last year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.21 per share. 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 payout ratio is presently 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.