Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Position Cut by Trust Co of the South

Trust Co of the South reduced its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 17.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,752 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 1,802 shares during the period. Trust Co of the South's holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,367,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of GOOG. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock traded down $2.09 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $170.87. The company's stock had a trading volume of 36,230,934 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,239,371. The firm has a market cap of $2.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.23, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $160.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $176.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick 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.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the sale, the insider now owns 49,037 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,181,333.08. This trade represents a 19.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,374 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total transaction of $238,347.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,606,213.28. This trade represents a 8.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 164,533 shares of company stock valued at $26,772,774. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the topic of several research reports. Needham & Company LLC lowered shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Tigress Financial reiterated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Three investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $203.94.

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.