Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Gateway Investment Advisers LLC

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC decreased its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.8% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,410,117 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 10,718 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 2.5% of Gateway Investment Advisers LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $220,303,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday. Westpark Capital reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup reiterated a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 261,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,844,050. This trade represents a 3.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 195,770 shares of company stock worth $32,036,638 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 3.0%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $174.92 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.12 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $161.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

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.