First Foundation Advisors Reduces Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

First Foundation Advisors reduced its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 3.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 541,433 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 18,507 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 3.9% of First Foundation Advisors' investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. First Foundation Advisors' holdings in Alphabet were worth $103,111,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Alphabet Trading Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $0.89 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $160.29. The company's stock had a trading volume of 9,665,122 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,383,706. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.95 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.91, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $170.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $177.99. 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 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal 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 dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $208.71.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 272,466 shares of the company's stock, valued at $50,376,238.74. This trade represents a 9.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 118,297 shares of company stock worth $20,804,770. Company 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.