GoalVest Advisory LLC Sells 742 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

GoalVest Advisory LLC lowered its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 16,868 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 742 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 0.8% of GoalVest Advisory LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. GoalVest Advisory LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,546,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Meritage Group LP increased its position in Alphabet by 1,061.5% in the third quarter. Meritage Group LP now owns 302 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 276 shares in the last quarter. Armor Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 31.0% in the fourth quarter. Armor Investment Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. Finally, IAG Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 55.9% during the 4th quarter. IAG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 343 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of GOOGL opened at $185.41 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.29 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.44, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 2.15. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.35 and a 1-year high of $186.05. The company has a 50-day moving average of $171.70 and a 200 day moving average of $153.58.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $66.04 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.17 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.67, for a total value of $3,502,575.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,325,513 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $362,012,608.71. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.67, for a total value of $3,502,575.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,325,513 shares in the company, valued at $362,012,608.71. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total transaction of $508,150.26. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,566,519.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 146,284 shares of company stock valued at $24,534,393 over the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOGL. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $176.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 24th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on Alphabet from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $193.69.

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.