Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH Sells 32,834 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• Fort Washington Investment Advisors has decreased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. by 1.2%, selling 32,834 shares, leaving them with approximately 2.62 million shares valued at $464.85 million.
• Alphabet recently reported strong quarterly earnings with a EPS of $2.31, exceeding analyst expectations, and a year-on-year revenue increase of 13.8%.
• The firm also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21, resulting in an annualized yield of 0.3% and a payout ratio of 8.95%.

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH reduced its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,620,510 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 32,834 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 2.7% of Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH's holdings, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH's holdings in Alphabet were worth $464,852,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $244.36 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.96 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.01. The business's fifty day moving average price is $217.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $185.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.Alphabet's revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued 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 is 8.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,778 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $680,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 17,293 shares in the company, valued at $4,236,785. This represents a 13.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 243,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,213,984. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 257,866 shares of company stock worth $52,363,610. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Citizens Jmp raised Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Alphabet from $186.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Barclays reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Pivotal Research upped their price objective on Alphabet from $245.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Four investment 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $230.35.

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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