Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Shares Sold by WealthTrust Axiom LLC

WealthTrust Axiom LLC reduced its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,981 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 195 shares during the period. WealthTrust Axiom LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $706,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. REDW Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. REDW Wealth LLC now owns 2,410 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $428,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the period. GDS Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% in the second quarter. GDS Wealth Management now owns 2,325 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $412,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. ACT Advisors LLC. increased its stake in Alphabet by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. ACT Advisors LLC. now owns 1,625 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $288,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Moser Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Moser Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,545 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $451,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, LongView Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% during the second quarter. LongView Wealth Management now owns 5,126 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $909,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.0%

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $320.28 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $268.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $218.44. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $328.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The company has a market capitalization of $3.86 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. The company had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 36.08%. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.12 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.28%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, DA Davidson set a $300.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $304.62.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.64, for a total transaction of $9,640,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,304,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $683,642,180.16. This trade represents a 1.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.06, for a total value of $168,036.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 4,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,264,750.96. This represents a 11.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 227,850 shares of company stock worth $58,874,814 over the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently 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.