Valley Wealth Managers Inc. Sells 277 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Valley Wealth Managers Inc. decreased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 5.7% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 4,563 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 277 shares during the quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $695,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Veracity Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 12.4% in the fourth quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 10,597 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,493,000 after buying an additional 1,173 shares in the last quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky increased its position in Alphabet by 25.3% in the fourth quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 6,093 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $859,000 after purchasing an additional 1,230 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 11.9% during the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 109,878 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $16,730,000 after purchasing an additional 11,646 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 36.7% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 15,068 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,123,000 after buying an additional 4,044 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Investment Partners LTD. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Investment Partners LTD. now owns 7,446 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,049,000 after acquiring an additional 410 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, June 28th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.38.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total transaction of $3,541,725.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,303,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $362,516,961.51. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.67, for a total transaction of $113,668.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,880,764.28. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,303,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $362,516,961.51. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 146,288 shares of company stock valued at $25,345,053 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOG traded down $4.74 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $187.92. 10,925,002 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,714,152. The company has a market capitalization of $2.32 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a current ratio of 2.15. The business’s 50 day moving average is $178.46 and its 200-day moving average is $158.56. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $118.68 and a 1 year high of $193.31.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a — dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 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.