Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Holdings Lowered by CWA Asset Management Group LLC

CWA Asset Management Group LLC cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.5% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 157,179 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 819 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.2% of CWA Asset Management Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. CWA Asset Management Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $24,556,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. now owns 1,941 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $370,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 7,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,395,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Hutchinson Capital Management CA increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Hutchinson Capital Management CA now owns 3,555 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $677,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. M. Kulyk & Associates LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. M. Kulyk & Associates LLC now owns 6,445 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,227,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the period. Finally, Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 15,977 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,043,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Needham & Company LLC cut Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $171.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the business’s 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 directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following 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. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 195,570 shares of company stock valued at $32,003,532 over the last quarter. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $173.98 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 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 moving average price of $165.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $176.42.

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. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

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.