Professional Advisory Services Inc. Sells 1,062 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Professional Advisory Services Inc. reduced its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 8.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,967 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,062 shares during the period. Professional Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,696,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Macroview Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 1,293 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $245,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 2,381 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $457,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 7,527 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,425,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Burt Wealth Advisors increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Burt Wealth Advisors now owns 5,307 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,005,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Perritt Capital Management Inc increased its stake in Alphabet by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc now owns 618 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $117,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 49,037 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. This represents a 19.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 195,770 shares of company stock valued at $32,036,638. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Mizuho decreased their target price on Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, DA Davidson reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.75.

Alphabet Trading Up 3.3%

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $173.68 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $160.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $174.38. The stock has a market cap of $2.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

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.