LS Investment Advisors LLC decreased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 2.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 155,043 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 3,133 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 4.0% of LS Investment Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. LS Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $27,503,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 111.8% in the first quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the first quarter worth about $26,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the first quarter worth about $32,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the first quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the first quarter worth about $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of analysts have commented on GOOG shares. Scotiabank upped their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Piper Sandler reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $270.00 target price (up previously from $235.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, BNP Paribas cut Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $230.35.
Read Our Latest Analysis on Alphabet
Alphabet Stock Performance
NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $247.18 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $256.70. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $216.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $184.39. The company has a market cap of $2.99 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.32, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.01.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) 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 analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The business had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.67 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. The company's revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate 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 was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th were paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 8.95%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.50, for a total transaction of $8,108,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,397,392 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $598,149,304. The trade was a 1.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,778 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $680,610.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,293 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,236,785. This represents a 13.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 258,088 shares of company stock worth $52,405,304. Insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.
About Alphabet
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Free Report)
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.
See Also
Want to see what other hedge funds are holding GOOG? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report).
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