Virtue Capital Management LLC Reduces Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Virtue Capital Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 48.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,880 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,752 shares during the period. Virtue Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $511,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 580,897.4% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 135,087,705 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $23,963,208,000 after purchasing an additional 135,064,454 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at about $2,622,943,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 2.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,570,922 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $64,299,725,000 after buying an additional 9,687,855 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 9.9% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 102,232,997 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $15,971,861,000 after buying an additional 9,243,959 shares during the period. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 17,547.9% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,122,727 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $731,331,000 after acquiring an additional 4,099,366 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. Mizuho set a $325.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Raymond James Financial set a $275.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on Alphabet in a research note on Monday. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Finally, Scotiabank set a $336.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $304.62.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.26, for a total transaction of $800,786.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 11,739 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,383,884.14. The trade was a 19.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.06, for a total transaction of $168,036.00. Following the sale, the director owned 4,516 shares in the company, valued at $1,264,750.96. The trade was a 11.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 227,850 shares of company stock worth $58,874,814 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $319.95 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $269.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $219.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.86 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $328.67.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced 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 business had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 36.08% and a net margin of 32.23%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.12 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.28%.

About Alphabet

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.