Spire Wealth Management Sells 1,742 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Spire Wealth Management trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 1.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 98,534 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 1,742 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management's holdings in Alphabet were worth $15,394,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC grew its stake in 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 buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. Needham & Company LLC cut shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Westpark Capital restated a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, June 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $204.88.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.7%

GOOG traded up $2.94 during trading on Thursday, hitting $174.43. The company's stock had a trading volume of 25,862,351 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,718,714. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $166.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $176.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.12 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.45, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. 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 business posted $1.89 EPS. Alphabet's revenue for the quarter 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 business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a $0.21 dividend. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's payout ratio is 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 216,306 shares of company stock valued at $35,782,927. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

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.