Focus Financial Network Inc. Reduces Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Focus Financial Network Inc. cut its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 10.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 20,616 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,291 shares during the quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,926,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at $33,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 87.3% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Compass Financial Services Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $65,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total transaction of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 282,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,329,576.64. The trade was a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 89,529 shares of company stock worth $16,600,078. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.3 %

GOOG opened at $187.88 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $131.55 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $193.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.47. The company has a market cap of $2.30 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly 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 net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on GOOG. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

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.