Howard Capital Management Group LLC lessened its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 3.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 58,785 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 2,250 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 0.7% of Howard Capital Management Group LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Howard Capital Management Group LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $9,184,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 9.3% during 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 purchasing an additional 2,390 shares during the period. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC now owns 31,967 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,088,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $22,901,000 after purchasing an additional 6,410 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $204,262,000. Finally, Ascent Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 246.2% during the fourth quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,698 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,085,000 after purchasing an additional 4,052 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.
Insider Activity at Alphabet
In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 261,966 shares in the company, valued at $45,844,050. This trade represents a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 195,570 shares of company stock valued at $32,003,532. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.
Alphabet Price Performance
GOOG traded down $1.09 during trading on Friday, hitting $175.88. 20,848,122 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,479,029. The company has a market cap of $2.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $163.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $176.27. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.
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 company had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Alphabet's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Alphabet Increases Dividend
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. 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%.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GOOG. Needham & Company LLC downgraded shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their target price on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $204.88.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on Alphabet
Alphabet Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
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