Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Position Reduced by Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC.

Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. lowered its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 549,518 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 14,648 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.3% of Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $104,650,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,094,000 after purchasing an additional 1,041 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $824,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. North Forty Two & Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $281,000. SageView Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 140.6% during the fourth quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 14,734 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,806,000 after purchasing an additional 8,610 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Requisite Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $927,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total transaction of $3,245,761.20. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares of the company's stock, valued at $265,914,995.28. The trade was a 1.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,374 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total value of $238,347.78. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 129,744 shares of company stock valued at $20,968,366. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup reaffirmed a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. 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 note on Monday, April 21st. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $203.94.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG stock traded up $1.92 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $171.98. The company had a trading volume of 44,924,476 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,027,582. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $160.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.62. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.