Peterson Wealth Services Reduces Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Peterson Wealth Services reduced its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 53.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,820 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,106 shares during the quarter. Peterson Wealth Services’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $347,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Creative Planning raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.4% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 1,544,297 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $256,177,000 after buying an additional 92,556 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its stake in Alphabet by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,338,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,394,181,000 after acquiring an additional 51,226 shares during the last quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd now owns 4,861 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $813,000 after purchasing an additional 434 shares during the last quarter. B.O.S.S. Retirement Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $232,000. Finally, SPC Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 16.6% in the third quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 1,825 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $305,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $186.87 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.84. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $194.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.54. The stock has a market cap of $2.29 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $131.55 and a one year high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. On average, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Pivotal Research lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total value of $3,975,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,061,806 shares in the company, valued at approximately $364,259,266.02. The trade was a 1.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 89,529 shares of company stock valued at $16,600,078. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Company 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.