Opes Wealth Management LLC Sells 2,653 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Opes Wealth Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 16.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,772 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 2,653 shares during the period. Opes Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,152,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Noesis Capital Mangement Corp raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Noesis Capital Mangement Corp now owns 181,534 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $28,361,000 after acquiring an additional 2,073 shares in the last quarter. Winthrop Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 9.4% in the 1st quarter. Winthrop Capital Management LLC now owns 2,318 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $362,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Burney Co. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 11.4% in the 1st quarter. Burney Co. now owns 13,414 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,096,000 after acquiring an additional 1,374 shares in the last quarter. W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co raised its holdings in Alphabet by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co now owns 142,009 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $22,186,000 after acquiring an additional 1,170 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ames National Corp raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Ames National Corp now owns 10,925 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,707,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $0.88 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $194.08. The company had a trading volume of 31,074,800 shares, compared to its average volume of 27,020,362. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $208.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market cap of $2.36 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.67, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $176.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $174.53.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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. 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 period last year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on GOOG shares. Roth Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Needham & Company LLC cut Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group increased their target price on Alphabet from $186.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Pivotal Research increased their target price on Alphabet from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Susquehanna reissued a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $215.19.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, 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 transaction of $3,448,820.16. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,213,984. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. This represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 249,409 shares of company stock worth $43,523,710 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.