Spartan Planning & Wealth Management Reduces Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Spartan Planning & Wealth Management lessened its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 4,489 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 377 shares during the quarter. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $796,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. LexAurum Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 24.1% during the 2nd quarter. LexAurum Advisors LLC now owns 13,745 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,438,000 after buying an additional 2,670 shares in the last quarter. Elser Financial Planning Inc purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at $859,000. Oakworth Capital Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 182,756 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $32,419,000 after buying an additional 6,021 shares in the last quarter. Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 22.0% during the 2nd quarter. Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC now owns 8,258 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,465,000 after buying an additional 1,491 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avondale Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 201.4% during the 2nd quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 2,110 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $374,000 after buying an additional 1,410 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GOOG. Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Lake Street Capital restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Pivotal Research boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $245.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have issued 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 $230.35.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.44, for a total transaction of $149,664.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,716 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,425,799.04. This represents a 9.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.50, for a total transaction of $8,108,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,397,392 shares in the company, valued at $598,149,304. This represents a 1.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 243,285 shares of company stock worth $50,994,787. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $245.54 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $219.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $185.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $256.70.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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