Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. Sells 18,697 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 40.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,226 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 18,697 shares during the quarter. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,254,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,991,725 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $22,470,344,000 after purchasing an additional 3,189,592 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 104,777,092 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $19,894,651,000 after buying an additional 1,219,606 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in Alphabet by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $17,376,706,000 after acquiring an additional 5,758,244 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Alphabet by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $10,873,751,000 after acquiring an additional 7,917,625 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Alphabet by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 39,148,500 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $7,455,571,000 after acquiring an additional 294,556 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 261,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,844,050. This represents a 3.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,192,275. This trade represents a 8.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 215,643 shares of company stock valued at $36,330,928 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $0.46 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $180.22. 13,287,389 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,210,158. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $169.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $175.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.19 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The firm 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 business posted $1.89 EPS. The business's revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GOOG. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Needham & Company LLC cut Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. BNP Paribas downgraded Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Citizens Jmp raised Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $171.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $206.38.

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.