Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Advisory Alpha LLC

Advisory Alpha LLC cut its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 47.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 12,028 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 10,814 shares during the period. Advisory Alpha LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,879,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Legacy Financial Strategies LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 14.7% in the first quarter. Legacy Financial Strategies LLC now owns 2,615 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $409,000 after purchasing an additional 336 shares during the last quarter. Global Financial Private Client LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% in the first quarter. Global Financial Private Client LLC now owns 5,909 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $923,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.3% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 339,085 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $52,975,000 after purchasing an additional 17,070 shares during the last quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 65.8% in the first quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 1,401 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $219,000 after purchasing an additional 556 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 18,562.3% in 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 during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $170.87 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $160.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $176.30. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.66 and a 1-year high of $208.70. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 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 firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $171.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. KeyCorp lowered their price target on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Needham & Company LLC downgraded Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.94.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total transaction of $238,347.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,606,213.28. This trade represents a 8.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 164,533 shares of company stock valued at $26,772,774. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Company Profile

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.