Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC Trims Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 31,958 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 75 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 0.9% of Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,669,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of GOOG. IFS Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 400.0% during the second quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the period. Robbins Farley increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 60.0% during the second 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. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter valued at $26,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Goodman Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter valued at $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $245.46 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The company has a market cap of $2.97 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $225.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $188.71. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $256.70.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 8.95%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total transaction of $4,408,034.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 42,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,635,348.70. The trade was a 29.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.41, for a total value of $7,910,825.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,402,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $584,699,785.79. This represents a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 276,738 shares of company stock valued at $59,135,475. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on GOOG. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. BNP Paribas downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Pivotal Research raised their price objective on Alphabet from $245.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $237.68.

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.