Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC Cuts Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC cut its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 12.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 35,468 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 5,224 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 1.5% of Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,642,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. now owns 1,941 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $370,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 14,423 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,747,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 7,300 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,395,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Hutchinson Capital Management CA boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Hutchinson Capital Management CA now owns 3,555 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $677,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tempus Wealth Planning LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC now owns 3,337 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $636,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of GOOG stock traded up $0.71 on Wednesday, hitting $168.42. The stock had a trading volume of 9,593,362 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,234,963. The company's 50 day moving average price is $161.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $176.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Alphabet's revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a 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 presently 9.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,181,333.08. The trade was a 19.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 163,270 shares of company stock valued at $26,553,563. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. Needham & Company LLC downgraded shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Scotiabank dropped their price objective 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. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $171.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price 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.