PAX Financial Group LLC Cuts Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

PAX Financial Group LLC reduced its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 23.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 462 shares during the period. PAX Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $280,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 104,777,092 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,894,651,000 after buying an additional 1,219,606 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 30,824,307 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,870,181,000 after acquiring an additional 875,480 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,166,070,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,843,149,000 after purchasing an additional 264,962 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,483,070 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,615,516,000 after purchasing an additional 144,170 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total transaction of $3,245,761.20. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at $265,914,995.28. The trade was a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 119,797 shares of company stock worth $21,089,470. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $147.74 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.80 trillion, a PE ratio of 18.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $147.54 and a 12 month high of $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The business has a 50-day moving average of $177.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $178.30.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GOOG. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Benchmark reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $208.65.

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.