Westfield Capital Management Co. LP Sells 8,679 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lessened its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 11.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 65,207 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 8,679 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $9,928,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 19.7% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 84,171,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,815,986,000 after acquiring an additional 13,876,534 shares in the last quarter. Councilmark Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth about $3,599,000. Towercrest Capital Management boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 88.7% during the first quarter. Towercrest Capital Management now owns 4,021 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $612,000 after buying an additional 1,890 shares during the period. Forge First Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 56.4% in the 1st quarter. Forge First Asset Management Inc. now owns 87,600 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,332,000 after acquiring an additional 31,600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Banco Santander S.A. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% during the first quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 551,604 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $83,987,000 after acquiring an additional 7,140 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. Rosenblatt Securities lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, June 28th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Wolfe Research raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $174.38.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total value of $369,096.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,035,402.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.74, for a total transaction of $4,201,650.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,227,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $415,941,874.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total value of $369,096.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,035,402.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 146,988 shares of company stock valued at $26,068,355. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $0.17 on Friday, reaching $179.39. 14,485,899 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,891,877. The company has a 50-day moving average of $180.37 and a 200-day moving average of $160.65. The firm has a market cap of $2.22 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $118.68 and a 1-year high of $193.31.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.38. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $78.75 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.17 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a — dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

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.