Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Shares Sold by BankPlus Trust Department

BankPlus Trust Department cut its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 13,382 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 285 shares during the period. BankPlus Trust Department’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,374,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SGL Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 0.9% during the second quarter. SGL Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 27,753 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,861,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Independent Solutions Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 28.8% in the second quarter. Independent Solutions Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,826 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,453,000 after buying an additional 3,090 shares in the last quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 26.6% in the second quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. now owns 283,897 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $50,360,000 after buying an additional 59,603 shares in the last quarter. TriaGen Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.2% in the second quarter. TriaGen Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,070 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $722,000 after buying an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wise Wealth Partners grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 180.6% in the second quarter. Wise Wealth Partners now owns 4,114 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $730,000 after buying an additional 2,648 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GOOG shares. UBS Group set a $255.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. TD Cowen increased their target price on Alphabet from $270.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $210.00 target price (up previously from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $241.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider owned 42,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,371,905.30. This trade represents a 35.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 276,738 shares of company stock valued at $59,135,475 in the last quarter. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of GOOG opened at $237.49 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.87 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $256.70. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $226.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $189.66.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

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.