Lantz Financial LLC Sells 494 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Lantz Financial LLC trimmed its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 8.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,656 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 494 shares during the quarter. Lantz Financial LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $884,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,991,725 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,470,344,000 after acquiring an additional 3,189,592 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 104,777,092 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,894,651,000 after acquiring an additional 1,219,606 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $17,376,706,000 after acquiring an additional 5,758,244 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,873,751,000 after acquiring an additional 7,917,625 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 39,148,500 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,455,571,000 after acquiring an additional 294,556 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. KeyCorp lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Westpark Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.94.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.2%

Alphabet stock opened at $170.87 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s 50-day moving average is $160.88 and its 200-day moving average is $176.30. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. 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%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of Alphabet 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. The trade was a 19.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 164,533 shares of company stock worth $26,772,774 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.