Virtue Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 55.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,689 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 4,644 shares during the period. Virtue Capital Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $703,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 9.3% during 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 buying an additional 2,390 shares in the last quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC now owns 31,967 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $6,088,000 after acquiring an additional 380 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Group Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Group Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,480 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $853,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $22,901,000 after acquiring an additional 6,410 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crown Oak Advisors LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $448,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Needham & Company LLC lowered shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $171.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $203.94.
Read Our Latest Report on GOOG
Alphabet Stock Down 1.4%
Shares of GOOG stock traded down $2.50 on Friday, hitting $170.46. The stock had a trading volume of 13,311,978 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,969,123. 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $160.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.39. The company has a market cap of $2.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year 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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Alphabet Increases Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 9.36%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet
In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,374 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total transaction of $238,347.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,606,213.28. The trade was a 8.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,192,275. The trade was a 8.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 164,533 shares of company stock valued at $26,772,774. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Alphabet Profile
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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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