Bragg Financial Advisors Inc Has $36.43 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Bragg Financial Advisors Inc lowered its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 191,268 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 5,333 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 1.5% of Bragg Financial Advisors Inc's portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Bragg Financial Advisors Inc's holdings in Alphabet were worth $36,425,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 264,962 shares during the period. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $166,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 13,575 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,270,000 after acquiring an additional 1,546 shares during the last quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $263,000. Finally, Advisory Resource Group grew its holdings in Alphabet by 8.7% in the third quarter. Advisory Resource Group now owns 10,277 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,718,000 after purchasing an additional 822 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on GOOG shares. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Westpark Capital assumed coverage on Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. They set a "buy" rating and a $210.00 target price on the stock. Benchmark reaffirmed a "negative" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their target price on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $208.71.

Alphabet Stock Down 2.0 %

GOOG traded down $3.18 on Wednesday, hitting $155.50. 16,903,668 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,400,727. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $169.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $177.83. The company has a market cap of $1.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 115,663 shares of company stock valued at $20,286,447 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

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.