Verity & Verity LLC Sells 75 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Verity & Verity LLC cut its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,351 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 75 shares during the period. Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $524,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,991,725 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,470,344,000 after purchasing an additional 3,189,592 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 104,777,092 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,894,651,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219,606 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Alphabet by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $17,376,706,000 after purchasing an additional 5,758,244 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Alphabet by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,873,751,000 after purchasing an additional 7,917,625 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Alphabet by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 39,148,500 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,455,571,000 after purchasing an additional 294,556 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup reiterated a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and set a $171.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.88.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,837,500.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 261,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,844,050. This trade represents a 3.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. This trade represents a 19.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 195,570 shares of company stock valued at $32,003,532. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG stock opened at $176.97 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $208.70. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $163.98 and its 200 day moving average is $176.27. The firm has a market cap of $2.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.