Investmark Advisory Group LLC Decreases Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Investmark Advisory Group LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 12.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 7,728 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,089 shares during the quarter. Investmark Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,472,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOG. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $5,166,070,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $1,551,533,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,873,751,000 after purchasing an additional 7,917,625 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 181,679.1% in the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,376,066,000 after purchasing an additional 7,221,746 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its stake in Alphabet by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $17,376,706,000 after buying an additional 5,758,244 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup reiterated a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Needham & Company LLC cut shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Scotiabank lowered their price objective 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.94.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total transaction of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. This trade represents a 1.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total value of $5,066,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,652,696 shares in the company, valued at $413,555,306.40. This trade represents a 1.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 129,744 shares of company stock valued at $20,968,366 in the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $170.06 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.13, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The business’s 50 day moving average is $160.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $176.62. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $208.70. 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 data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share 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 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 quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 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.