Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Shares Sold by Griffin Asset Management Inc.

Key Points

• Griffin Asset Management Inc. reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 15.4% during the second quarter, leaving them with 33,468 shares valued at approximately $5.94 million.
• Several institutional investors, including Kingstone Capital Partners and Vanguard Group Inc., have significantly increased their holdings in Alphabet, indicating positive sentiment towards the stock.
• Alphabet recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 0.3% for shareholders.

Griffin Asset Management Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 15.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,468 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 6,107 shares during the period. Griffin Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,937,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 580,897.4% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 135,087,705 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $23,963,208,000 after acquiring an additional 135,064,454 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,622,943,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,570,922 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $64,299,725,000 after acquiring an additional 9,687,855 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.9% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 102,232,997 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $15,971,861,000 after acquiring an additional 9,243,959 shares during the period. Finally, Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $369,713,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Pivotal Research raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $245.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Lake Street Capital reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $244.68.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of GOOG opened at $251.88 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. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $231.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $192.08. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.66 and a 1-year high of $257.58. The stock has a market cap of $3.05 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The company's revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. Equities analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th were paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 103 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.13, for a total value of $25,042.39. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 17,284 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,202,258.92. The trade was a 0.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 210,872 shares of company stock worth $46,980,865 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.

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