Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. Lowers Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. reduced its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 828,578 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 20,573 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 0.5% of Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $116,772,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $4,101,040,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 11.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 95,941,129 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,649,838,000 after acquiring an additional 9,703,425 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $11,600,970,000. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 120,234,117 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,852,868,000 after purchasing an additional 4,348,188 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 198.7% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 3,882,882 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $547,215,000 after purchasing an additional 2,583,128 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Alphabet Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of Alphabet stock traded down $2.40 during trading on Thursday, hitting $175.60. The stock had a trading volume of 8,284,835 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,953,508. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.83 and a 12 month high of $179.95. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $160.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $147.60. The stock has a market cap of $2.17 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.18, a PEG ratio of 1.33 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.38. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $78.75 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. Alphabet’s revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.17 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total value of $508,150.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,566,519.45. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total value of $508,150.26. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 144,685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,566,519.45. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total transaction of $2,985,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,332,691 shares in the company, valued at $309,548,095.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 205,935 shares of company stock worth $31,178,987 in the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.