Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Blue Barn Wealth LLC

Blue Barn Wealth LLC cut its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.4% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 5,246 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 184 shares during the quarter. Blue Barn Wealth LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $820,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 111.8% in the 1st quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth $26,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter worth about $32,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the insider owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at $8,371,905.30. This represents a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.23, for a total value of $6,377,475.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,494,892 shares in the company, valued at $489,572,657.16. This trade represents a 1.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 273,219 shares of company stock worth $49,474,273 over the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $196.92 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $180.79 and a 200-day moving average of $174.68. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.38 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.97, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.02.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group boosted their target price on Alphabet from $186.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Pivotal Research upped their price objective on Alphabet from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Citizens Jmp raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $215.19.

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.