Demars Financial Group LLC Sells 96,504 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Demars Financial Group LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 18.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 437,322 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 96,504 shares during the period. Demars Financial Group LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $67,627,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Lynch & Associates IN increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% during the first quarter. Lynch & Associates IN now owns 32,072 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $4,960,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. RS Crum Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 24.2% in the 1st quarter. RS Crum Inc. now owns 1,499 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $232,000 after buying an additional 292 shares during the last quarter. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI increased its position in Alphabet by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI now owns 141,328 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $21,855,000 after buying an additional 1,105 shares in the last quarter. Vista Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 6.4% during the first quarter. Vista Investment Partners LLC now owns 8,418 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,302,000 after buying an additional 505 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AA Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.9% in the first quarter. AA Financial Advisors LLC now owns 8,771 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,356,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 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 $1,837,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 261,966 shares in the company, valued at $45,844,050. This trade represents a 3.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532 over the last quarter. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $173.32 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $207.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.01. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average of $164.58 and a 200 day moving average of $174.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group set a $195.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.75.

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.

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