Olstein Capital Management L.P. Sells 9,000 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Olstein Capital Management L.P. cut its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 19.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 38,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 9,000 shares during the quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,786,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Partnership Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Equitec Proprietary Markets LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $187.39 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $175.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $156.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 2.15. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.83 and a 1 year high of $187.62. The firm has a market cap of $2.32 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.38. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $78.75 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.17 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a — dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GOOG. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, June 28th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $167.86.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.67, for a total transaction of $113,668.94. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,284 shares in the company, valued at $4,880,764.28. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.67, for a total value of $113,668.94. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,880,764.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total transaction of $3,541,725.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,303,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $362,516,961.51. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 146,288 shares of company stock worth $25,345,053 over the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.