Vanguard Capital Wealth Advisors Has $4.76 Million Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Vanguard Capital Wealth Advisors trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 7.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,987 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,875 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 5.2% of Vanguard Capital Wealth Advisors’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Vanguard Capital Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,759,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,166,070,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $1,551,533,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,873,751,000 after buying an additional 7,917,625 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 181,679.1% in the 4th 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 during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $17,376,706,000 after acquiring an additional 5,758,244 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total transaction of $5,066,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,652,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $413,555,306.40. This trade represents a 1.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total transaction of $3,245,761.20. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. The trade was a 1.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 129,744 shares of company stock worth $20,968,366. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Rosenblatt Securities raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.94.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $167.87 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $160.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $176.74.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business 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 of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. 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.