Searcy Financial Services Inc. ADV Decreases Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Searcy Financial Services Inc. ADV reduced its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 61,476 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,251 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 5.7% of Searcy Financial Services Inc. ADV’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Searcy Financial Services Inc. ADV’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $14,972,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of GOOG. RDA Financial Network lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.3% during the second quarter. RDA Financial Network now owns 11,094 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,968,000 after purchasing an additional 554 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 170,020 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $30,160,000 after purchasing an additional 2,304 shares during the last quarter. American National Bank of Texas acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth about $900,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,164,341 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $206,542,000 after buying an additional 42,028 shares during the period. Finally, Oldfather Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $213,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Down 3.1%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $298.06 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $287.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $233.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.60 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.07. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $328.67.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. The business had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.12 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 8th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 8.28%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Truist Financial set a $350.00 target price on Alphabet in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $313.04.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.30, for a total value of $867,569.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 8,962 shares in the company, valued at $2,798,832.60. This represents a 23.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $308.19, for a total transaction of $184,914.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,206,872.04. This trade represents a 13.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 228,906 shares of company stock valued at $63,984,117. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Alphabet

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.