Park Avenue Securities LLC Sells 1,928 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Park Avenue Securities LLC reduced its holdings in Alphabet Inc. by 0.8% to a total of 243,797 shares, worth approximately $42.96 million, after selling 1,928 shares in the second quarter.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Alphabet, with BMO Capital Markets increasing its estimate from $208 to $225, and Barclays raising theirs from $235 to $250.
• Alphabet recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, paying an annualized dividend of $0.84, representing a yield of 0.3%.

Park Avenue Securities LLC decreased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 0.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 243,797 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 1,928 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $42,964,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Mystic Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. now owns 28,454 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,400,000 after buying an additional 1,791 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% in the first quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 27,075 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,187,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Cypress Capital LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Cypress Capital LLC now owns 14,310 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,213,000 after purchasing an additional 563 shares during the period. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 17.9% during the 1st quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 88,187 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $13,637,000 after buying an additional 13,371 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alaethes Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Alaethes Wealth LLC now owns 7,646 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,182,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Three investment 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, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $231.31.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL opened at $251.66 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $212.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $181.45. 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 firm has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.80, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $256.00.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th were paid a $0.21 dividend. 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%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,778 shares of the 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 of the company's stock, valued at $4,236,785. This trade represents a 13.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.50, for a total transaction of $8,108,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,397,392 shares in the company, valued at $598,149,304. This trade represents a 1.34% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 258,088 shares of company stock worth $52,405,304. Insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

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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