Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Sells 2,235 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 499,019 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,235 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 2.7% of Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $77,962,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 39.3% during the 4th quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,964 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $945,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 10.2% during the first quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 14,907 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,329,000 after buying an additional 1,376 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $824,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the period. North Forty Two & Co. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $281,000. Finally, Fermata Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 9,771 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,527,000 after acquiring an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

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 trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction 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 $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $176.97 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70. The stock has a market cap of $2.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.98, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a fifty day moving average of $163.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $176.27. 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:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. KeyCorp decreased their target price on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.88.

Alphabet Company 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.