Institute for Wealth Management LLC. Reduces Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Institute for Wealth Management LLC. reduced its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 17,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 104 shares during the period. Institute for Wealth Management LLC.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,668,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $5,166,070,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 18,562.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,323,323 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,237,733,000 after acquiring an additional 14,246,573 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $1,551,533,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Alphabet by 16.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 7,917,625 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 181,679.1% during the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,376,066,000 after purchasing an additional 7,221,746 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.71, for a total transaction of $5,483,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,587,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $436,570,192.16. This represents a 1.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,181,333.08. This represents a 19.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532 over the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $173.98 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $208.70. The company has a market cap of $2.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.40, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business has a 50 day moving average of $165.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $176.42.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the subject of several analyst reports. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and set a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Needham & Company LLC lowered Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.88.

Alphabet 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.