B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG Sells 11,752 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG lowered its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.3% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 262,332 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 11,752 shares during the quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $40,983,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. JDM Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.6% in the fourth quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 593 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $113,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. NCM Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% in the first quarter. NCM Capital Management LLC now owns 2,802 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $438,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Objectivity Squared LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% in the first quarter. Objectivity Squared LLC now owns 16,342 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,605,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. Tranquility Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% in the first quarter. Tranquility Partners LLC now owns 14,488 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,263,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the period. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% in the first quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC now owns 10,648 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,664,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Lake Street Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Needham & Company LLC cut Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group upped their target price on Alphabet from $186.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $210.00 target price (up from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $215.19.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the business’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 value of $4,637,754.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. The trade was a 35.65% 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, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. This represents a 1.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 254,719 shares of company stock valued at $47,223,172 in the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $207.95 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $211.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $188.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $174.99. The firm has a market cap of $2.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.02.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm 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 yield of 0.4%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 8.95%.

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.