Westpac Banking Corp lessened its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 13.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 53,364 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 8,277 shares during the quarter. Westpac Banking Corp's holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,337,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,570,922 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $64,299,725,000 after purchasing an additional 9,687,855 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Alphabet by 9.9% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 102,232,997 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $15,971,861,000 after purchasing an additional 9,243,959 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 5,758,244 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 7,917,625 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 294,556 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.
Insider Buying and Selling 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, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value 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 $456,991,919.84. This represents a 1.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at 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 shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,213,984. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 274,219 shares of company stock valued at $49,674,273 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of research firms recently commented on GOOG. Barclays reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Susquehanna restated a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $210.00 price target (up previously from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Westpark Capital restated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Roth Capital restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $215.19.
Check Out Our Latest Research Report on Alphabet
Alphabet Stock Up 0.4%
Alphabet stock traded up $0.79 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $203.82. 17,605,944 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 24,009,111. The company's fifty day moving average price is $183.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $174.75. The company has a market cap of $2.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. Alphabet's revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.95%.
About Alphabet
(
Free Report)
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.
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