Principle Wealth Partners LLC Sells 218 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Principle Wealth Partners LLC trimmed its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 95,819 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 218 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 1.1% of Principle Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Principle Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $14,970,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,991,725 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,470,344,000 after buying an additional 3,189,592 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 104,777,092 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,894,651,000 after acquiring an additional 1,219,606 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its position in Alphabet by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $17,376,706,000 after purchasing an additional 5,758,244 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,873,751,000 after acquiring an additional 7,917,625 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 39,148,500 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,455,571,000 after acquiring an additional 294,556 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price target (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $185.00 price target on Alphabet in a report on Tuesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.69.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.4%

Alphabet stock traded up $2.70 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $194.21. 18,019,440 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 24,001,646. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.36 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $175.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $174.72.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total transaction of $5,992,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,527,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $466,000,536.96. This trade represents a 1.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 249,409 shares of company stock valued at $43,523,710 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.