United Asset Strategies Inc. Sells 195 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

United Asset Strategies Inc. reduced its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,601 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 195 shares during the period. United Asset Strategies Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,656,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,901,000 after acquiring an additional 6,410 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 506,535 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $96,465,000 after purchasing an additional 20,855 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $824,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the period. Crake Asset Management LLP boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 620.2% in the fourth quarter. Crake Asset Management LLP now owns 749,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $142,640,000 after purchasing an additional 645,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MGO One Seven LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 15.7% in the fourth quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 96,797 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $18,434,000 after purchasing an additional 13,113 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. This trade represents a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,000 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $200,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,383,200. This represents a 12.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 222,219 shares of company stock worth $40,725,772 in the last three months. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on GOOG shares. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Lake Street Capital reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $210.00 target price (up previously from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Alphabet from $186.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $215.19.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.1%

GOOG stock opened at $200.19 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $2.42 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.32, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.02. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $186.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $174.88. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.67 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

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.