Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Position Lowered by Johnson Financial Group Inc.

Johnson Financial Group Inc. reduced its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 10.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 110,976 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 13,261 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 1.1% of Johnson Financial Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Johnson Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $22,817,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $163.85 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The company has a market cap of $2.00 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.35, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $164.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $177.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.77. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total value of $5,075,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,685,196 shares in the company, valued at $419,320,207.36. This represents a 1.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 148,163 shares of company stock valued at $25,361,647. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on GOOG shares. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Citizens Jmp downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. KeyCorp cut their target price on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.94.

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.