Conning Inc. Sells 1,361 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• Conning Inc. reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 5.0%, selling 1,361 shares during the second quarter, leaving it with a total of 25,869 shares valued at approximately $4.59 million.
• Insider transactions included Director Kavitark Ram Shriram selling 18,566 shares and CEO Sundar Pichai offloading 32,500 shares, representing decreases in their respective holdings.
• Analysts have updated their price targets for Alphabet, with new objectives ranging from $240.00 to $270.00, contributing to a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $241.00.

Conning Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 5.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 25,869 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 1,361 shares during the quarter. Conning Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,589,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 400.0% during the second quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Robbins Farley boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 60.0% during the second quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 160 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 58.7% during the second quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the first quarter valued at $26,000. Finally, Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the first quarter valued at $32,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the sale, the director directly owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.50, for a total transaction of $8,108,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,397,392 shares in the company, valued at $598,149,304. This represents a 1.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 243,838 shares of company stock worth $53,070,333. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on GOOG shares. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $270.00 price objective (up previously from $235.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $241.00.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $246.19 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $228.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $191.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.98 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $256.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The business's revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current 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 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.95%.

Alphabet Company 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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