Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. Decreases Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 94.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,414 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 25,353 shares during the quarter. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $212,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 111.8% in the first quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.0%

Alphabet stock opened at $166.01 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $166.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $176.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.01 trillion, a P/E ratio of 18.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. Alphabet's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 of the company's stock, valued at $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.68, for a total value of $5,742,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,555,196 shares in the company, valued at $451,452,029.28. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 228,070 shares of company stock valued at $37,745,632 over the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on GOOG shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $171.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Needham & Company LLC cut Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Westpark Capital reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average 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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