Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Bradyco Inc.

Bradyco Inc. lessened its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 7.3% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 55,797 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 4,400 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 6.6% of Bradyco Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Bradyco Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,717,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 111.8% during the first quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $178.79 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.17 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.21, a P/E/G 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $163.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.21. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 last year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on GOOG shares. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC downgraded Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 49,037 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,181,333.08. This trade represents a 19.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total transaction of $32,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,232,544.70. This trade represents a 2.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.