Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Blair William & Co. IL

Blair William & Co. IL trimmed its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,253,651 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 60,280 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 1.8% of Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest position. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $619,625,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,843,149,000 after buying an additional 264,962 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,445,000. Cynosure Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 42.8% in the 3rd quarter. Cynosure Group LLC now owns 3,861 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $646,000 after buying an additional 1,158 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its stake in Alphabet by 182.1% during the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 2,526,055 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $422,331,000 after purchasing an additional 1,630,701 shares during the period. Finally, Baupost Group LLC MA boosted its stake in Alphabet by 37.0% in the 3rd quarter. Baupost Group LLC MA now owns 1,465,588 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $245,032,000 after buying an additional 396,000 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on GOOG. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark restated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,471,620.22. This trade represents a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 93,048 shares of company stock valued at $17,374,274. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $167.14 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $182.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $178.36. The company has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $148.20 and a 52 week high of $208.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

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.