BLB&B Advisors LLC Has $1.25 Million Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

BLB&B Advisors LLC cut its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 27.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,010 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 2,985 shares during the period. BLB&B Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,251,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% in 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 in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $22,901,000 after buying an additional 6,410 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 506,535 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $96,465,000 after purchasing an additional 20,855 shares in the last quarter. Dynasty Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Dynasty Wealth Management LLC now owns 22,134 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $4,215,000 after buying an additional 690 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mills Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $271,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.6%

NASDAQ GOOG traded up $2.85 on Wednesday, reaching $179.76. The company had a trading volume of 19,297,508 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,124,652. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $168.84 and a 200-day moving average of $175.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.18 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup reissued a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Needham & Company LLC downgraded Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and six have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $206.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was 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 directly owned 261,966 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,844,050. This 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 can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company'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 owned 6,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,192,275. This represents a 8.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 183,143 shares of company stock valued at $30,529,028 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.