Salvus Wealth Management LLC Decreases Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• Salvus Wealth Management LLC reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 40.6% during the second quarter, leaving it with 22,490 shares, which now represent about 2.3% of its portfolio.
• Several institutional investors, including Kingstone Capital Partners and Vanguard Group, have significantly increased their positions in Alphabet, with Kingstone raising its stake by 580,897.4%.
• Alphabet's recent quarterly earnings exceeded expectations with a reported $2.31 EPS and revenue of $96.43 billion, marking a 13.8% increase year-over-year.

Salvus Wealth Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 40.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 22,490 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 15,380 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 2.3% of Salvus Wealth Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Salvus Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,989,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its position in 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 valued at $23,963,208,000 after purchasing an additional 135,064,454 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the first quarter valued at approximately $2,622,943,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 18,562.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,323,323 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,237,733,000 after purchasing an additional 14,246,573 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 2.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,570,922 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $64,299,725,000 after purchasing an additional 9,687,855 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Alphabet by 9.9% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 102,232,997 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $15,971,861,000 after purchasing an additional 9,243,959 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. Phillip Securities cut Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. BNP Paribas cut Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Citizens Jmp raised Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Barclays reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Pivotal Research upped their target price on Alphabet from $245.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $230.35.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $252.88 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.06 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.01. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $211.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $182.24. 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 quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th were given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.95%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.50, for a total value of $8,108,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,397,392 shares of the company's stock, valued at $598,149,304. This trade represents a 1.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,778 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value 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. The trade was a 13.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 258,088 shares of company stock worth $52,405,304. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet 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.

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