Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. Sells 29,966 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. lessened its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 65.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,757 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 29,966 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 1.4% of Symphony Financial Ltd. Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,360,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $49,000. EQ Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $49,000. Navigoe LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $51,000. Finally, Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $53,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $178.53 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a 50 day moving average of $166.45 and a 200-day moving average of $174.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a $0.21 dividend. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the company’s 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 directly owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total transaction of $32,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,613 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,232,544.70. This represents a 2.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 216,195 shares of company stock worth $35,764,898 in the last quarter. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JMP Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “market perform” rating to a “market outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday. Mizuho cut their target price on Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. DA Davidson decreased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.95.

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.