Buffington Mohr McNeal Lowers Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Buffington Mohr McNeal lessened its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 15.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 46,385 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 8,787 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 1.4% of Buffington Mohr McNeal's investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. Buffington Mohr McNeal's holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,247,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Ethos Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 7,300 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,395,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Hutchinson Capital Management CA raised its stake in Alphabet by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Hutchinson Capital Management CA now owns 3,555 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $677,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. M. Kulyk & Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. M. Kulyk & Associates LLC now owns 6,445 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,227,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 15,977 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,043,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Concentrum Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 17,328 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,300,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $180.22 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.19 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77. The stock's fifty day moving average is $169.65 and its 200 day moving average is $175.71. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a $0.21 dividend. 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 dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $171.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group reduced their target price on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Citizens Jmp raised Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $206.38.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm'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 completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,192,275. This trade represents a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 9,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,575,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 255,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $44,695,000. This trade represents a 3.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 215,643 shares of company stock valued at $36,330,928 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

About Alphabet

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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