Braun Stacey Associates Inc. Trims Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Braun Stacey Associates Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 6.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 198,163 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 12,873 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 1.3% of Braun Stacey Associates Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Braun Stacey Associates Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $30,959,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. HM Payson & Co. grew its stake in Alphabet by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 1,453,882 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $227,140,000 after acquiring an additional 9,582 shares in the last quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 12.1% in the first quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 1,766 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $276,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the period. Brickley Wealth Management grew its stake in Alphabet by 7.2% in the first quarter. Brickley Wealth Management now owns 1,602 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $250,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 163,363 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $25,522,000 after purchasing an additional 2,837 shares during the period. Finally, Truist Financial Corp increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 3,611,862 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $564,281,000 after purchasing an additional 30,326 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of GOOG stock traded up $0.46 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $180.22. 13,287,389 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,210,158. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The stock's 50 day moving average is $169.97 and its 200-day moving average is $175.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market cap of $2.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director owned 261,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,844,050. This represents a 3.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.87, for a total transaction of $5,553,275.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,620,196 shares of the company's stock, valued at $447,712,890.52. The trade was a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 215,643 shares of company stock worth $36,330,928 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on GOOG. Tigress Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Westpark Capital restated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Susquehanna reiterated a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and six have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $206.38.

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.