Provident Wealth Management LLC Cuts Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Provident Wealth Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 23.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 645 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 203 shares during the period. Provident Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $123,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Swedbank AB grew its stake in Alphabet by 0.6% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,338,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,394,181,000 after acquiring an additional 51,226 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 113,127 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $18,914,000 after purchasing an additional 623 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.7% during the third quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 16,076 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,688,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. S.A. Mason LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.5% in the third quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 5,325 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $890,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldstone Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth about $461,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $172.22 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $192.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $177.65. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $131.55 and a 52-week high of $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.10 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Benchmark restated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total value of $291,330.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 23,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,529,987.28. This represents a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total value of $232,950.47. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares in the company, valued at $4,007,191.15. The trade was a 5.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 134,309 shares of company stock worth $25,057,490 in the last three months. Corporate 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.