Luts & Greenleigh Group Inc. Reduces Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Luts & Greenleigh Group Inc. cut its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,431 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 209 shares during the period. Luts & Greenleigh Group Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $692,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 111.8% during the first quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the first quarter valued at about $26,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the first quarter valued at about $32,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $53,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The stock was 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $2,786,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 240,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,656,704. This trade represents a 5.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 242,319 shares of company stock worth $44,243,272 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $202.49 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.56, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $186.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $174.71. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly 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 return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $235.00 price target (up previously from $220.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. BNP Paribas lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Citigroup restated a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $215.19.

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.