Cladis Investment Advisory LLC Decreases Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• Cladis Investment Advisory LLC has reduced its holdings in Alphabet Inc. by 64.1%, owning only 2,500 shares worth $391,000 after selling 4,455 shares in the first quarter.
• Insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares valued at approximately $4.64 million, resulting in a 35.65% decrease in his position.
• Alphabet is expected to distribute a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share on September 15th, reflecting an annualized yield of 0.4%.

Cladis Investment Advisory LLC reduced its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 64.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,500 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 4,455 shares during the period. Cladis Investment Advisory LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $391,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $22,901,000 after buying an additional 6,410 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 506,535 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $96,465,000 after buying an additional 20,855 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 626,603 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $119,330,000 after buying an additional 29,056 shares in the last quarter. Trajan Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Trajan Wealth LLC now owns 82,400 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $15,692,000 after buying an additional 7,775 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Transce3nd LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $542,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and set a $235.00 price objective (up from $220.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a "neutral" rating and set a $171.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $210.00 target price (up from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $215.19.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at $456,991,919.84. This represents a 1.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $200,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,916 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,383,200. This represents a 12.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 254,719 shares of company stock worth $47,223,172. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 4.1%

Alphabet stock traded up $8.1350 during trading on Friday, reaching $208.7550. The stock had a trading volume of 16,790,877 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,672,799. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.79. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $187.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $174.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market cap of $2.52 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.02.

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 for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $96.43 billion for 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 firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 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.