Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Instrumental Wealth LLC

Instrumental Wealth LLC reduced its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 3,394 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 118 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 0.6% of Instrumental Wealth LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Instrumental Wealth LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $616,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were 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 approximately $8,181,333.08. This represents a 19.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 164,654 shares of company stock valued at $26,793,380 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $169.59 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $208.70. The company has a market capitalization of $2.06 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.07, 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 current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $160.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $176.60.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior 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. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders 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 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on GOOG shares. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Three investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.94.

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.