Sylvest Advisors LLC Decreases Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Sylvest Advisors LLC reduced its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 13.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,145 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 495 shares during the period. Sylvest Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $491,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 111.8% in the 1st quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total value of $32,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,613 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,232,544.70. The trade was a 2.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $104,537.09. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 216,306 shares of company stock valued at $35,782,927 over the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. KeyCorp lowered their price objective 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 report on Friday, April 25th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.88.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $171.49 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $2.08 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.12, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $166.90 and a 200 day moving average of $176.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

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.