Allegheny Financial Group Has $2.77 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Allegheny Financial Group lowered its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 10.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,556 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 1,654 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 0.7% of Allegheny Financial Group's portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Allegheny Financial Group's holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,772,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,094,000 after purchasing an additional 1,041 shares during the period. Harvest Investment Services LLC raised its position 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 worth $824,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the period. North Forty Two & Co. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $281,000. SageView Advisory Group LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 140.6% during the fourth quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 14,734 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,806,000 after acquiring an additional 8,610 shares during the period. Finally, Requisite Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $927,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOG traded up $3.02 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $165.81. The company had a trading volume of 16,826,135 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,174,655. The firm has a market cap of $2.01 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $162.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $177.16. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. 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 0.51%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total transaction of $5,075,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,685,196 shares in the company, valued at approximately $419,320,207.36. This trade represents a 1.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 148,164 shares of company stock worth $25,357,390. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Benchmark reissued a "negative" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Westpark Capital restated a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $203.94.

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.