B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 11.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 107,888 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 14,554 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 0.7% of B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $20,546,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC raised 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 valued at $5,341,000 after buying an additional 2,390 shares during the period. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC grew 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 valued at $6,088,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 24.9% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,539,691 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $483,659,000 after buying an additional 506,187 shares in the last quarter. AFG Fiduciary Services Limited Partnership purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $220,000. Finally, XML Financial LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 20,665 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,936,000 after buying an additional 1,427 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock traded down $0.77 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $172.61. The company had a trading volume of 13,161,908 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,149,895. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $208.70. The company has a 50 day moving average of $160.86 and a 200-day moving average of $176.45. The firm has a market cap of $2.09 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.45, a PEG 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 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. Alphabet's revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,374 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total value 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. This trade represents a 8.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,192,275. This trade represents a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 164,654 shares of company stock valued at $26,793,380 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Tigress Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Citigroup restated a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three equities 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $203.94.

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.