Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Vicus Capital

Vicus Capital reduced its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,949 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 293 shares during the period. Vicus Capital’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $929,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. AA Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 12.0% in the 1st quarter. AA Financial Advisors LLC now owns 8,553 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,336,000 after buying an additional 919 shares during the last quarter. Inscription Capital LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the first quarter worth about $9,552,000. Louisbourg Investments Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 8.7% during the first quarter. Louisbourg Investments Inc. now owns 58,578 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,152,000 after purchasing an additional 4,710 shares during the last quarter. Signature Wealth Management Group raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Signature Wealth Management Group now owns 11,391 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,780,000 after purchasing an additional 440 shares during the period. Finally, Community Trust & Investment Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Community Trust & Investment Co. now owns 405,288 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $63,318,000 after purchasing an additional 2,828 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on GOOG. Citigroup reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Needham & Company LLC lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. KeyCorp cut their price target on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Westpark Capital reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.88.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 261,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,844,050. This trade represents a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 195,570 shares of company stock valued at $32,003,532. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $177.94 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The business’s fifty day moving average is $165.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $176.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Alphabet 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.