Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc Decreases Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 11.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 77,567 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 9,963 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 0.9% of Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc's portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc's holdings in Alphabet were worth $11,995,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GOOGL. FMR LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $47,025,322,000 after acquiring an additional 22,100,902 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $24,383,677,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Alphabet by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 98,638,127 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $18,672,198,000 after purchasing an additional 7,574,417 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Alphabet by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,635,878,000 after buying an additional 10,037,685 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Alphabet by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,178,470,000 after buying an additional 10,135,430 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GOOGL. Roth Mkm restated a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. DA Davidson cut their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $199.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 163,270 shares of company stock worth $26,553,563. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.1%

GOOGL stock traded up $1.87 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $168.05. The company's stock had a trading volume of 26,284,552 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,041,895. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.88, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $159.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $174.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date 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 0.50%. Alphabet's payout ratio is 9.36%.

Alphabet Company 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.