Portside Wealth Group LLC Decreases Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Portside Wealth Group LLC lowered its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 20.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 39,913 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 10,212 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 1.0% of Portside Wealth Group LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Portside Wealth Group LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,236,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GOOG. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 111.8% in the 1st quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the business's 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,181,333.08. This represents a 19.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 195,770 shares of company stock valued at $32,036,638 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Susquehanna reiterated a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Citigroup reiterated a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on 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 issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $204.88.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG traded down $1.22 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $178.79. The stock had a trading volume of 18,967,953 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,464,403. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $208.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.17 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.21, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $163.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.21.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. Alphabet's revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's 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.