Sowell Financial Services LLC Lowers Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Sowell Financial Services LLC lowered its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 6.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 63,118 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 4,391 shares during the period. Sowell Financial Services LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $9,861,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Montecito Bank & Trust raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Montecito Bank & Trust now owns 16,370 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,557,000 after buying an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH now owns 12,105 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,891,000 after buying an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 88.3% during the 1st quarter. Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,750 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $898,000 after buying an additional 2,696 shares in the last quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,451 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,789,000 after buying an additional 345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 101.8% during the 1st quarter. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 12,293 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,921,000 after buying an additional 6,201 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.6%

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $175.88 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The stock's 50 day moving average is $164.57 and its 200 day moving average is $176.38.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now owns 261,966 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,844,050. This trade represents a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at $8,181,333.08. This trade represents a 19.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 195,570 shares of company stock valued at $32,003,532. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Tigress Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Susquehanna reissued a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Scotiabank reduced their price target on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $204.88.

Alphabet Company 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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