Sovereign Financial Group Inc. Reduces Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Sovereign Financial Group Inc. lessened its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 57,592 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 274 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 2.3% of Sovereign Financial Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Sovereign Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,769,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Mather Group LLC. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 16.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 35,838 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,725,000 after buying an additional 5,115 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.4% in the third quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 4,601 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $607,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 61.7% in the third quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 57,619 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,597,000 after purchasing an additional 21,989 shares in the last quarter. Rench Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% in the third quarter. Rench Wealth Management Inc. now owns 46,069 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,074,000 after purchasing an additional 461 shares during the period. Finally, Private Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Private Advisory Group LLC now owns 150,987 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,908,000 after buying an additional 6,642 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GOOG. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $165.67.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total value of $508,150.26. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 144,685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,566,519.45. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.67, for a total value of $3,502,575.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,325,513 shares in the company, valued at $362,012,608.71. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total value of $508,150.26. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 144,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,566,519.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 146,284 shares of company stock worth $24,534,393. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $186.86 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $173.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $154.97. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.83 and a 52 week high of $187.50. The stock has a market cap of $2.31 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.66, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share 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 period in the prior year, the business earned $1.17 earnings per share. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a — dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.