Allegheny Financial Group Reduces Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Allegheny Financial Group lessened its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,572 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 605 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 0.6% of Allegheny Financial Group’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position. Allegheny Financial Group’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,380,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% during the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the period. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Navigoe LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $51,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on GOOGL. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Rosenblatt Securities decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $189.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.46.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total value of $5,075,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,685,196 shares in the company, valued at approximately $419,320,207.36. The trade was a 1.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 148,164 shares of company stock valued at $25,357,390 in the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $161.30 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.04, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $160.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $175.35.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

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.