Professional Advisory Services Inc. Sells 5,646 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• Professional Advisory Services Inc. has trimmed its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 3.1%, making it the 3rd largest position in the fund's portfolio, valued at approximately $31.75 million.
• Insider trading activity included John L. Hennessy selling 600 shares and Kavitark Ram Shriram selling 15,000 shares, indicating a notable decrease in their positions.
• Alphabet recently announced a $0.21 quarterly dividend, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 0.3%, with a low payout ratio of 8.95%.

Professional Advisory Services Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 3.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 178,982 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 5,646 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 4.3% of Professional Advisory Services Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Professional Advisory Services Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $31,750,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. LongView Wealth Management increased its position in Alphabet by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. LongView Wealth Management now owns 5,126 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $909,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. NCM Capital Management LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. NCM Capital Management LLC now owns 2,802 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $438,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Private Trust Co. increased its position in Alphabet by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Legacy Private Trust Co. now owns 9,956 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,766,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Faithward Advisors LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Faithward Advisors LLC now owns 2,505 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $391,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SK Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. SK Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,436 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $255,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $3,448,820.16. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,213,984. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible 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 stock was 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 $4,236,785. This trade represents a 13.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 258,088 shares of company stock valued at $52,405,304. Insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. 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. UBS Group lifted their price target on Alphabet from $186.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Barclays restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday. Finally, BNP Paribas cut Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $230.35.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG traded down $0.64 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $252.24. 8,767,584 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 23,933,424. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $256.70. The firm has a market cap of $3.05 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.01. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $211.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $182.24.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.Alphabet's revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet's payout ratio is 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.