Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Position Reduced by Brown Advisory Inc.

Brown Advisory Inc. decreased its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,531,159 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 333,634 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 2.1% of Brown Advisory Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Brown Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,489,053,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,901,000 after purchasing an additional 6,410 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 506,535 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $96,465,000 after acquiring an additional 20,855 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 82,690 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $15,747,000 after acquiring an additional 7,548 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $1,551,533,000. Finally, Barings LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Barings LLC now owns 5,163 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $983,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,575,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 255,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,695,000. The trade was a 3.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,192,275. The trade was a 8.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 215,643 shares of company stock valued at $36,330,928 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $177.56 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business’s 50 day moving average is $170.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $175.29. The company has a market cap of $2.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. BNP Paribas cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Westpark Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. 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 six have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $206.38.

Alphabet 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.