Davidson Investment Advisors Decreases Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Davidson Investment Advisors lowered its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 10.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 472,365 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 53,292 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 3.6% of Davidson Investment Advisors' portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Davidson Investment Advisors' holdings in Alphabet were worth $73,798,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 39.3% during the fourth quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,964 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $945,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares during the period. Independence Bank of Kentucky boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.2% during the first quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 14,907 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,329,000 after purchasing an additional 1,376 shares during the period. Harvest Investment Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $824,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the period. North Forty Two & Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $281,000. Finally, Fermata Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.7% during the first quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 9,771 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,527,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $3.60 on Wednesday, hitting $178.76. The stock had a trading volume of 9,625,498 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,218,448. The stock has a market cap of $2.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $170.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $175.29. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70.

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 (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 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 value of $1,837,500.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 261,966 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,844,050. This trade represents a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,192,275. This trade represents a 8.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 215,643 shares of company stock valued at $36,330,928 over the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Westpark Capital reissued a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. BNP Paribas downgraded Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 target price (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. 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 company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $207.63.

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.