Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC's 5th Largest Position

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC lowered its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 0.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 335,520 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 3,050 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 3.7% of Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $52,418,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC now owns 28,044 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,341,000 after acquiring an additional 2,390 shares during the last quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC now owns 31,967 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $6,088,000 after buying an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $22,901,000 after buying an additional 6,410 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $204,262,000. Finally, Ascent Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 246.2% in the 4th quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,698 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,085,000 after purchasing an additional 4,052 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. This trade represents a 19.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at $436,570,192.16. This trade represents a 1.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG traded down $0.80 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $177.99. 8,138,075 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,417,432. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $163.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $176.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market cap of $2.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup reissued a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Westpark Capital restated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet 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.