Highland Capital Management LLC Sells 2,146 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Highland Capital Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 170,933 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,146 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 1.5% of Highland Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Highland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $26,026,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Veracity Capital LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 10,597 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,493,000 after acquiring an additional 1,173 shares in the last quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 25.3% in the 4th quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 6,093 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $859,000 after buying an additional 1,230 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 11.9% in the 1st quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 109,878 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $16,730,000 after buying an additional 11,646 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 36.7% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 15,068 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,123,000 after buying an additional 4,044 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Investment Partners LTD. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Investment Partners LTD. now owns 7,446 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,049,000 after buying an additional 410 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on GOOG. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Rosenblatt Securities cut shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.38.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total value of $3,541,725.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,303,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $362,516,961.51. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total transaction of $3,541,725.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,303,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $362,516,961.51. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the director now owns 5,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,035,402.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 145,488 shares of company stock worth $25,217,405. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.3 %

GOOG traded down $0.52 on Friday, reaching $186.78. 14,449,113 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,160,819. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $118.68 and a one year high of $193.31. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $179.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $159.18. The company has a market cap of $2.31 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.38. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $78.75 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.17 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a — dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

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.