Capital Investment Services of America Inc. Has $32.26 Million Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Capital Investment Services of America Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.3% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 206,489 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 554 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 3.3% of Capital Investment Services of America Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Capital Investment Services of America Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $32,260,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC now owns 28,044 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,341,000 after acquiring an additional 2,390 shares in the last quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC now owns 31,967 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,088,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,901,000 after purchasing an additional 6,410 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $204,262,000. Finally, Ascent Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 246.2% in the 4th quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,698 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,085,000 after purchasing an additional 4,052 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the topic of several analyst reports. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. UBS Group decreased their price target on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. KeyCorp decreased their price target on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.88.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $175.88 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $164.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.30. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $208.70. The company has a market capitalization of $2.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.85, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 195,570 shares of company stock valued at $32,003,532 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet 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.