Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Position Lessened by Zacks Investment Management

Zacks Investment Management decreased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 4.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 137,075 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 6,357 shares during the period. Zacks Investment Management's holdings in Alphabet were worth $26,105,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $166,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 12.9% during the third 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 acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $263,000. Finally, Advisory Resource Group lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 8.7% during the 3rd 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were 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 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. Insiders have sold 148,163 shares of company stock valued at $25,361,647 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on GOOG shares. Scotiabank upped their target price on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Westpark Capital started coverage on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. They set a "buy" rating and a $210.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $210.88.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.4 %

GOOG traded down $2.14 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $153.36. 19,461,666 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,427,163. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week 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 company has a market cap of $1.87 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.05, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $167.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $177.55.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Alphabet 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.