PFG Advisors Lowers Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

PFG Advisors decreased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 5.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 46,131 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,806 shares during the quarter. PFG Advisors’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,785,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter worth approximately $33,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,000. Finally, FPC Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 287.9% during the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 225 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Benchmark reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Scotiabank increased their target price on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Citizens Jmp cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total transaction of $291,330.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,324 shares in the company, valued at $4,529,987.28. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total value of $238,347.78. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,606,213.28. This represents a 8.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 97,182 shares of company stock valued at $18,192,354 over the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG stock opened at $165.98 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $188.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $178.08. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $138.21 and a 52-week high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

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.