Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Position Cut by Bill Few Associates Inc.

Bill Few Associates Inc. cut its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.6% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 39,457 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,044 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 2.8% of Bill Few Associates Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Bill Few Associates Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,237,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 11.9% during the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 109,878 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $16,730,000 after acquiring an additional 11,646 shares during the period. Investment Partners LTD. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Investment Partners LTD. now owns 7,446 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,049,000 after purchasing an additional 410 shares during the period. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 47.9% in the 4th quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 50,333 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,094,000 after purchasing an additional 16,295 shares in the last quarter. Apexium Financial LP boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 335.9% in the 4th quarter. Apexium Financial LP now owns 53,823 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,586,000 after buying an additional 41,476 shares during the period. Finally, Oak Ridge Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.6% during the first quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 187,229 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $28,508,000 after buying an additional 8,201 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.58, for a total value of $3,973,050.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,235,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $394,746,532.38. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total transaction of $600,175.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,655.91. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.58, for a total value of $3,973,050.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,235,511 shares in the company, valued at $394,746,532.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 121,608 shares of company stock valued at $21,567,504. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on GOOG shares. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Rosenblatt Securities cut shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Wolfe Research upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $182.86.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG traded down $3.90 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $162.03. The stock had a trading volume of 22,415,546 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,494,863. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $178.20 and a 200-day moving average of $163.67. The firm has a market cap of $2.00 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.63, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $121.46 and a fifty-two week high of $193.31.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.22 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The company’s revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.44 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.27%.

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.