Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is Financial Partners Group LLC’s 2nd Largest Position

Financial Partners Group LLC trimmed its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.4% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 75,901 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,858 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 5.1% of Financial Partners Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Financial Partners Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $11,737,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,025,322,000 after acquiring an additional 22,100,902 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $24,383,677,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Alphabet by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 98,638,127 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $18,672,198,000 after acquiring an additional 7,574,417 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in Alphabet by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,635,878,000 after acquiring an additional 10,037,685 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Alphabet by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,178,470,000 after purchasing an additional 10,135,430 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 target price (down previously from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, DA Davidson lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.75.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $166.64 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $164.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $174.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market capitalization of $2.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.68, for a total transaction of $5,742,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,555,196 shares in the company, valued at $451,452,029.28. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the sale, the insider now owns 49,037 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. This represents a 19.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 228,070 shares of company stock valued at $37,745,632 over the last three months. 11.64% of the stock is 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.