Peterson Wealth Management Reduces Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Peterson Wealth Management lessened its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 6.9% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 15,118 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,129 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 1.6% of Peterson Wealth Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Peterson Wealth Management’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,507,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Lantz Financial LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 10.8% in the second quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 4,622 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $842,000 after acquiring an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% during the second quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 376,816 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $68,637,000 after buying an additional 16,253 shares during the last quarter. St. Louis Financial Planners Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 50.0% during the second quarter. St. Louis Financial Planners Asset Management LLC now owns 19,221 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,517,000 after buying an additional 6,404 shares during the last quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 16.6% during the second quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,823 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $514,000 after buying an additional 401 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Annex Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.1% during the second quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 37,951 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,913,000 after buying an additional 785 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $185.17 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $169.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $170.21. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $129.68 and a 52-week high of $191.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.56, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.84, for a total value of $230,804.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,927,257.72. The trade was a 4.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,802 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.47, for a total transaction of $2,780,226.94. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,280,514.53. This trade represents a 27.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 197,923 shares of company stock worth $34,244,676 in the last three months. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America raised their price objective on Alphabet from $206.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 price objective (up from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. China Renaissance raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $210.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $206.03.

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.