Strengthening Families & Communities LLC Cuts Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Strengthening Families & Communities LLC decreased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.8% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 28,209 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 524 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 2.7% of Strengthening Families & Communities LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,944,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 400.0% during the 2nd quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Robbins Farley grew its holdings in Alphabet by 60.0% in the second quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 160 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. WestEnd Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 58.7% in the second quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the first quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the first quarter worth about $32,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 3.0%

GOOG opened at $244.64 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $256.70. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $227.94 and its 200 day moving average is $190.61. The stock has a market cap of $2.96 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The company had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.67 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 8.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective (up previously from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $270.00 price target (up previously from $235.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. KeyCorp set a $265.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Mizuho upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $241.00.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.23, for a total value of $6,377,475.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,494,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $489,572,657.16. The trade was a 1.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. This represents a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 276,338 shares of company stock worth $59,062,683. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.