Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Shares Sold by GFG Capital LLC

Key Points

• GFG Capital LLC reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 60.5% in Q2, selling 2,517 shares to end with 1,644 shares valued at $292,000.
• Alphabet reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $2.31, surpassing analyst estimates, while also announcing a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share.
• Insider transactions included major sales by Director Kavitark Ram Shriram and CEO Sundar Pichai, with Shriram selling 18,566 shares and Pichai 32,500 shares, reflecting a decrease in their respective ownership percentages.

GFG Capital LLC lessened its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 60.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,644 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 2,517 shares during the quarter. GFG Capital LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $292,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. IFS Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 400.0% in the second quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Robbins Farley increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 60.0% in the second quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 160 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 58.7% in the second quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on GOOG shares. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Pivotal Research raised their target price on Alphabet from $245.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Lake Street Capital reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Phillip Securities cut Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $241.00.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.23, for a total value of $6,377,475.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,494,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $489,572,657.16. This represents a 1.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 276,338 shares of company stock worth $59,062,683 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.9%

GOOG opened at $237.49 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $256.70. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $226.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $189.99. The firm has a market cap of $2.87 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.00. 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 (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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.

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