Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by First Affirmative Financial Network

First Affirmative Financial Network lowered its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 18,057 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 348 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 1.7% of First Affirmative Financial Network’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. First Affirmative Financial Network’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,792,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, Navigoe LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on GOOGL. Tigress Financial upped their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. KeyCorp upped their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Alphabet from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.75.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 195,770 shares of company stock worth $32,036,638. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 3.3%

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $173.68 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $160.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $174.35.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) 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. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS 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 paid a $0.21 dividend. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.