Laraway Financial Advisors Inc Trims Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Laraway Financial Advisors Inc cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,120 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 150 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 2.3% of Laraway Financial Advisors Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Laraway Financial Advisors Inc’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,052,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,704,000. Lionshead Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $234,000. Investment Management Corp of Ontario grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 46.6% in the fourth quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 450,759 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $85,329,000 after buying an additional 143,229 shares in the last quarter. Investor s Fiduciary Advisor Network LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $593,000. Finally, J. Goldman & Co LP grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 295.6% in the fourth quarter. J. Goldman & Co LP now owns 4,499 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $852,000 after buying an additional 6,799 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $152.75 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The firm has a market cap of $1.85 trillion, a P/E ratio of 18.98, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a 50 day moving average of $158.93 and a 200 day moving average of $175.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results 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. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 179,324 shares of company stock valued at $30,153,353 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price target (down previously from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 17th. DZ Bank downgraded Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 price target for the company. in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.75.

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.