Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Raleigh Capital Management Inc.

Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 71.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 297 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 747 shares during the period. Raleigh Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $46,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,901,000 after acquiring an additional 6,410 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 506,535 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $96,465,000 after acquiring an additional 20,855 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.0% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 82,690 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $15,747,000 after acquiring an additional 7,548 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $1,551,533,000. Finally, FWG Holdings LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. FWG Holdings LLC now owns 7,569 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,534,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of GOOG opened at $175.16 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $2.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current 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. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $170.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $175.29.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted 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 during 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 company’s revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on GOOG shares. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup restated a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. 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 six have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $206.38.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,575,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 255,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,695,000. This trade represents a 3.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,192,275. This represents a 8.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 215,643 shares of company stock valued at $36,330,928. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.