SFG Wealth Management LLC. Trims Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

SFG Wealth Management LLC. lessened its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 15.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,873 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 706 shares during the period. SFG Wealth Management LLC.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $599,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $24,383,677,000. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% during 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 during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 16,993.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,062,457 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,483,898,000 after acquiring an additional 15,968,487 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 10,135,430 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 10,037,685 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,192,275. The trade was a 8.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 261,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,844,050. This represents a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 183,143 shares of company stock worth $30,529,028 in the last three months. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on GOOGL shares. Wedbush set a $190.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. JMP Securities raised Alphabet from a “market perform” rating to a “market outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 27th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective (down from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.95.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $175.84 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $167.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $174.17. The stock has a market cap of $2.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.60, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.00.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors 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. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

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.