Apexium Financial LP Reduces Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Apexium Financial LP lessened its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,363 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 575 shares during the period. Apexium Financial LP’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,025,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOG. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,901,000 after buying an additional 6,410 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 506,535 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $96,465,000 after buying an additional 20,855 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $9,663,000. Capital Analysts LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital Analysts LLC now owns 30,444 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,798,000 after purchasing an additional 477 shares during the period. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 119,435 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,745,000 after purchasing an additional 2,659 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on GOOG shares. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 target price (up from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Pivotal Research increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $215.19.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG stock opened at $206.72 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $187.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $174.73. The company has a market capitalization of $2.50 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.01, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $209.23.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. Alphabet’s revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at $45,213,984. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 42,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,371,905.30. This represents a 35.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 254,719 shares of company stock worth $47,223,172. 12.99% of the stock is currently 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.