West Oak Capital LLC Trims Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

West Oak Capital LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 23,687 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 628 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 1.4% of West Oak Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. West Oak Capital LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,701,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of GOOG. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 111.8% in the 1st quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $178.79 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $2.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.21, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $208.70. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $163.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $176.21. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup restated a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price objective 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.88.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total value of $32,380.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,613 shares in the company, valued at $1,232,544.70. This trade represents a 2.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 195,570 shares of company stock valued at $32,003,532. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.