Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Position Reduced by Smith Group Asset Management LLC

Smith Group Asset Management LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 25.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 87,911 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 30,630 shares during the quarter. Smith Group Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $13,385,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Partnership Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Equitec Proprietary Markets LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total transaction of $3,541,725.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,303,011 shares in the company, valued at $362,516,961.51. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total transaction of $3,541,725.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,303,011 shares in the company, valued at $362,516,961.51. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total transaction of $600,175.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9 shares in the company, valued at $1,655.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 146,288 shares of company stock worth $25,345,053 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities cut shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, June 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $167.86.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG traded up $4.57 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $191.96. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 14,303,361 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,944,221. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $176.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $157.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.37 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.44, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 2.15. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.83 and a fifty-two week high of $192.26.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.38. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $78.75 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.17 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a — dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

About Alphabet

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.