Financial Security Advisor Inc. Trims Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Financial Security Advisor Inc. trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 5.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,837 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 363 shares during the quarter. Financial Security Advisor Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,041,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Partnership Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Equitec Proprietary Markets LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.67, for a total transaction of $113,668.94. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,880,764.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total transaction of $3,541,725.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,303,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $362,516,961.51. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.67, for a total transaction of $113,668.94. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,284 shares in the company, valued at $4,880,764.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 123,788 shares of company stock valued at $21,143,403. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Rosenblatt Securities cut shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $167.86.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $186.61 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $2.31 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.83 and a 12-month high of $187.50. The company has a 50-day moving average of $174.93 and a 200 day moving average of $156.20.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.38. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. The business had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $78.75 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.17 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a — dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

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.