Avanza Fonder AB Sells 39,475 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Avanza Fonder AB reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 12.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 289,483 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 39,475 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 1.5% of Avanza Fonder AB's holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Avanza Fonder AB's holdings in Alphabet were worth $45,987,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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. In the last three months, insiders sold 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of Alphabet stock traded up $1.09 on Friday, reaching $178.06. The stock had a trading volume of 7,778,054 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,411,104. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $163.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) 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 analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on GOOG shares. Citigroup reaffirmed a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Scotiabank reduced their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Westpark Capital restated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $204.88.

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.