Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC Trims Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 49.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,645 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,640 shares during the quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $248,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 493,810,251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $68,980,354,000 after acquiring an additional 6,374,756 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $15,441,917,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,220,857 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,316,902,000 after acquiring an additional 1,472,043 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 34,910,194 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,876,605,000 after acquiring an additional 874,919 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 30,408,933 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,247,868,000 after acquiring an additional 686,514 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total transaction of $125,126.54. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 30,650 shares in the company, valued at $5,623,355.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total transaction of $600,175.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9 shares in the company, valued at $1,655.91. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total value of $125,126.54. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 30,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,623,355.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 123,788 shares of company stock worth $21,143,403 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $215.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Wedbush upped their price target on Alphabet from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Loop Capital restated a “hold” rating and issued a $170.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $196.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $193.66.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $185.82 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $174.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $155.39. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.35 and a twelve month high of $186.09. The firm has a market cap of $2.30 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.50, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $66.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.17 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

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.