Abundance Wealth Counselors Decreases Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Abundance Wealth Counselors lowered its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 10.0% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,345 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 373 shares during the period. Abundance Wealth Counselors’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $523,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOG. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $5,166,070,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 18,562.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,323,323 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,237,733,000 after buying an additional 14,246,573 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $1,551,533,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 16.1% in 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 buying an additional 7,917,625 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 181,679.1% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,376,066,000 after buying an additional 7,221,746 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.8%

GOOG stock opened at $173.98 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $166.15 and its 200 day moving average is $176.43. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $171.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, KeyCorp cut their price objective 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.88.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.