Professional Advisory Services Inc. Reduces Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Professional Advisory Services Inc. decreased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.4% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 184,628 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,596 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 4.0% of Professional Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest position. Professional Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $28,844,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 111.8% in the first quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 3.0%

Alphabet stock opened at $174.92 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $208.70. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $161.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $176.09. The stock has a market cap of $2.12 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast 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. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18% 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 valued at $32,036,638. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $171.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Citigroup reiterated a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.