Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI Sells 1,490 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI trimmed its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 1.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 84,007 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 1,490 shares during the quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI's holdings in Alphabet were worth $13,124,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 39.3% in the fourth quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,964 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $945,000 after acquiring an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 10.2% in the 1st quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 14,907 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,329,000 after purchasing an additional 1,376 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $824,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the period. North Forty Two & Co. purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $281,000. Finally, Fermata Advisors LLC raised its position 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 buying an additional 259 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 49,037 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,181,333.08. The trade was a 19.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 195,770 shares of company stock valued at $32,036,638 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Citigroup restated a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $171.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Susquehanna reissued a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $204.88.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of GOOG traded up $2.38 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $180.01. 32,875,878 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,432,694. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $162.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $176.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market cap of $2.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.36, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

About Alphabet

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.