Modera Wealth Management LLC Has $57.30 Million Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Key Points

• Modera Wealth Management LLC has reduced its holdings in Alphabet Inc. by 1.0%, selling 3,667 shares in the first quarter, resulting in a total of 366,746 shares valued at $57.3 million.
• Insider transactions revealed that Directors John L. Hennessy and Kavitark Ram Shriram sold significant amounts of Alphabet stock, decreasing their holdings by 6.24% and 7.09%, respectively.
• Alphabet reported a quarterly earnings per share of $2.31, exceeding analysts' estimates, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, marking a yield of 0.43%.

Modera Wealth Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 1.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 366,746 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 3,667 shares during the quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $57,297,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Concentrum Wealth Management grew its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 17,328 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,300,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. JDM Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 593 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $113,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Kidder Stephen W lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Kidder Stephen W now owns 3,608 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $687,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Objectivity Squared LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Objectivity Squared LLC now owns 16,342 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,605,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tranquility Partners LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 0.4% during the first quarter. Tranquility Partners LLC now owns 14,488 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,263,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on GOOG. Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $235.00 target price (up from $220.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Citizens Jmp raised Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Needham & Company LLC downgraded shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Alphabet from $186.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $215.19.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock traded up $1.01 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $197.44. The company's stock had a trading volume of 21,048,793 shares, compared to its average volume of 24,257,904. 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 fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $178.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $174.69. The firm has a market cap of $2.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet 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 value of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. This represents a 1.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at $45,213,984. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 249,298 shares of company stock valued at $43,505,967. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.