Essex Financial Services Inc. Has $7.77 Million Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Essex Financial Services Inc. decreased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 6.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 49,723 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 3,301 shares during the period. Essex Financial Services Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,768,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 111.8% during the first quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter valued at about $32,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 216,195 shares of company stock worth $35,764,898. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Citizens Jmp raised shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Susquehanna reaffirmed a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Needham & Company LLC lowered shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $206.38.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $178.27 on Monday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $2.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.66 and a 1-year high of $208.70. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $167.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $175.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

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.

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