Liberty Capital Management Inc. Reduces Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Liberty Capital Management Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,480 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 73 shares during the period. Liberty Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,343,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Robbins Farley grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 60.0% in the 2nd quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 160 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 period. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Goodman Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $270.00 price objective (up previously from $235.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.33.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG opened at $246.43 on Friday. 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 $256.70. The company has a 50 day moving average of $220.84 and a two-hundred day moving average of $186.43. The company has a market cap of $2.98 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.00.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The company had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. This represents a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 243,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 276,738 shares of company stock worth $59,135,475. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.