Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas Reduces Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas trimmed its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 438,426 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 6,858 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 4.4% of Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas’ portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $77,772,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter valued at $26,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter valued at $32,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter valued at $34,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Citizens Jmp raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price objective (up previously from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Alphabet from $232.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Mizuho upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $230.35.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total transaction of $5,992,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,527,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $466,000,536.96. This represents a 1.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,213,984. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 243,285 shares of company stock valued at $50,994,787 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $245.54 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $256.70. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $219.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $185.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.67 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.