ERn Financial LLC Sells 1,584 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• ERn Financial LLC reduced its holdings in Alphabet Inc. by 39.6%, selling 1,584 shares in the second quarter and retaining 2,421 shares valued at approximately $429,000.
• Several institutional investors, including Vanguard Group Inc. and Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC, significantly increased their stakes in Alphabet, with Vanguard owning over 411 million shares worth over $64 billion.
• Alphabet recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, with the ex-dividend date falling on September 8th, representing an annual yield of 0.3%.

ERn Financial LLC reduced its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 39.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,421 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 1,584 shares during the quarter. ERn Financial LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $429,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 9,687,855 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 135,064,454 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 9,243,959 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in Alphabet by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 21,345,784 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,334,852,000 after purchasing an additional 1,098,996 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 20,380,073 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,183,979,000 after purchasing an additional 440,526 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Lake Street Capital restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Phillip Securities lowered shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. KeyCorp set a $265.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Roth Capital reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $230.35.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,778 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total transaction of $680,610.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,293 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,236,785. The trade was a 13.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 42,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. The trade was a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 225,469 shares of company stock valued at $46,586,752 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $243.55 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $218.70 and a 200 day moving average of $185.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.95 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.01. 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. The company 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 firm's quarterly revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's payout ratio is 8.95%.

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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