Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by Focus Financial Network Inc.

Key Points

• Focus Financial Network Inc. reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 13.8%, selling 11,842 shares and ending the quarter with 73,913 shares valued at approximately $13 million.
• Insider transactions included CEO Sundar Pichai selling 32,500 shares for over $7.4 million, reflecting a 1.32% decrease in his position.
• Alphabet recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, with a dividend yield of 0.3%, and reported strong earnings with an EPS of $2.31 beating expectations.

Focus Financial Network Inc. cut its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 13.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 73,913 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 11,842 shares during the quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $13,026,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $78,839,544,000 after purchasing an additional 14,307,345 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 11.4% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 43,865,520 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $6,783,364,000 after buying an additional 4,473,901 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 43,648,514 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,749,806,000 after purchasing an additional 593,345 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 39,792,300 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,153,481,000 after purchasing an additional 727,335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 38,556,577 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,962,389,000 after purchasing an additional 104,859 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 value of $8,108,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,397,392 shares in the company, valued at approximately $598,149,304. This trade represents a 1.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The shares were 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 directly owned 42,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 258,088 shares of company stock worth $52,405,304. Insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of GOOGL traded down $1.37 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $251.16. The stock had a trading volume of 7,525,396 shares, compared to its average volume of 36,669,504. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $256.00. The firm has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.01. 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 stock's 50 day moving average is $210.78 and its 200 day moving average is $180.96.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th were issued 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $191.00 to $224.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Westpark Capital upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $231.31.

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.