Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. Sells 8,155 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. cut its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 27.3% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 21,681 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 8,155 shares during the quarter. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,272,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 87.7% during the 1st quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC now owns 31,457 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,748,000 after purchasing an additional 14,694 shares in the last quarter. Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 5.7% in the first quarter. Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC now owns 21,355 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,223,000 after acquiring an additional 1,150 shares in the last quarter. First Bank & Trust increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% during the first quarter. First Bank & Trust now owns 9,694 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,463,000 after acquiring an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. Saratoga Research & Investment Management increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 19.1% during the first quarter. Saratoga Research & Investment Management now owns 1,001,128 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $151,100,000 after acquiring an additional 160,884 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Grimes & Company Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.6% during the first quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 176,121 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,582,000 after purchasing an additional 2,727 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price (up from $160.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Alphabet from $173.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $193.66.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $185.24 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $173.38 and its 200 day moving average is $154.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.29 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.41, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.35 and a 12 month high of $186.05. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $66.04 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.17 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.27%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were 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 owns 29,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,880,764.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total value of $3,541,725.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,303,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $362,516,961.51. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.67, for a total value of $113,668.94. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,880,764.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 123,788 shares of company stock valued at $21,143,403. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.