Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Stock Position Lowered by Howard Financial Services LTD.

Howard Financial Services LTD. lessened its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 8.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,424 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 398 shares during the period. Howard Financial Services LTD.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $785,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,901,000 after acquiring an additional 6,410 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 506,535 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $96,465,000 after acquiring an additional 20,855 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $1,219,000. Sphera Funds Management LTD. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $8,284,000. Finally, Southport Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $1,143,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.79, for a total transaction of $122,274.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,316 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,287,137.64. This trade represents a 8.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.73, for a total value of $7,466,225.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,429,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $558,219,089.16. The trade was a 1.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 254,710 shares of company stock worth $49,208,380 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $270.00 target price (up from $235.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Alphabet from $232.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $227.56.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $241.38 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.92 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.66 and a 1-year high of $242.57. 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’s fifty day simple moving average is $202.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $178.83.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors 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 yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.95%.

Alphabet 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.