Matthew Goff Investment Advisor LLC Lowers Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Matthew Goff Investment Advisor LLC trimmed its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 7.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,826 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 588 shares during the quarter. Matthew Goff Investment Advisor LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,066,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. now owns 1,941 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $370,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC grew 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 acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Hutchinson Capital Management CA raised its holdings 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 valued at $677,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. M. Kulyk & Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 56 shares during the period. Finally, Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $3,043,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $173.98 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $166.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.43. The company has a market capitalization of $2.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for 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%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total transaction of $32,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,232,544.70. This trade represents a 2.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. This trade represents a 19.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on GOOG shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC cut shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.88.

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.