Naples Global Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Naples Global Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 23,002 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 178 shares during the quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,594,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 39.3% during the fourth quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,964 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $945,000 after buying an additional 1,400 shares during the last quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,094,000 after acquiring an additional 1,041 shares during the period. Harvest Investment Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $824,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. North Forty Two & Co. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $281,000. Finally, jvl associates llc increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% in the first quarter. jvl associates llc now owns 10,055 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,571,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 195,770 shares of company stock valued at $32,036,638 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Needham & Company LLC lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.88.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $169.39 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $2.06 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.04, a P/E/G 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 fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $161.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.14.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.