Kesler Norman & Wride LLC Sells 4,238 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Kesler Norman & Wride LLC lowered its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 66.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,179 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 4,238 shares during the period. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $340,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 111.8% during the 1st quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Tigress Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Piper Sandler reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday. Citizens Jmp raised Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Citigroup reissued a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their price target on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and six have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $207.13.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $181.31 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.20 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.21, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $171.50 and a 200-day moving average of $175.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.66 and a 1-year 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 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were given 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company'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 sale, the director owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,192,275. This represents a 8.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. The trade was a 1.25% decrease in their position. 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 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

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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