Aviance Capital Partners LLC Decreases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Aviance Capital Partners LLC reduced its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 6.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,261 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 518 shares during the period. Aviance Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,023,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Tandem Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Equitec Proprietary Markets LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Buck Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total value of $3,291,525.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,377,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $347,832,416.39. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total transaction of $369,096.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,035,402.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total value of $3,291,525.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,377,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $347,832,416.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 275,129 shares of company stock worth $40,382,765 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG traded up $3.15 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $172.98. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 21,087,028 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,735,842. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $105.79 and a 1 year high of $176.42. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $152.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $144.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.02. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.38. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. The business had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $78.75 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.17 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.66 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a — dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of several analyst reports. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Susquehanna raised their price objective on Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $165.67.

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.