Means Investment CO. Inc. Has $14.81 Million Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Means Investment CO. Inc. cut its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 20.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 94,823 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 24,657 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 1.6% of Means Investment CO. Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Means Investment CO. Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $14,814,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 111.8% during the 1st quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. KeyCorp reduced their price target on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Needham & Company LLC cut Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Susquehanna reiterated a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $204.88.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now directly owns 261,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,844,050. This trade represents a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 195,570 shares of company stock valued at $32,003,532 in the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $173.98 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $166.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.43. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $208.70. The firm has a market cap of $2.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. 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 currently 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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