Triangle Securities Wealth Management Sells 1,678 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Triangle Securities Wealth Management cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 3.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 45,746 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 1,678 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 1.8% of Triangle Securities Wealth Management's investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Triangle Securities Wealth Management's holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,147,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $43,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on GOOG. Westpark Capital reissued a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Benchmark reissued a "negative" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Needham & Company LLC downgraded Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Susquehanna reiterated a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $204.88.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.71, for a total transaction of $5,483,075.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,587,696 shares in the company, valued at $436,570,192.16. The trade was a 1.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 195,770 shares of company stock worth $32,036,638. Insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock traded up $0.42 on Thursday, hitting $169.81. The company had a trading volume of 24,841,790 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,314,072. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The company has a market cap of $2.06 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.09, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $161.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.14.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

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.