Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Naples Global Advisors LLC

Naples Global Advisors LLC decreased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.8% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 23,002 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 178 shares during the quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,594,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $5,166,070,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 18,562.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,323,323 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,237,733,000 after purchasing an additional 14,246,573 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $1,551,533,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,873,751,000 after buying an additional 7,917,625 shares during the period. Finally, GQG Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 181,679.1% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,376,066,000 after buying an additional 7,221,746 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.0%

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $169.39 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.06 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $161.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $176.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 a boost 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 yield of 0.50%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Needham & Company LLC lowered Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Benchmark reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Westpark Capital reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 195,770 shares of company stock valued at $32,036,638 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.