Sterling Investment Counsel LLC Reduces Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Sterling Investment Counsel LLC has reduced its stock position in Alphabet Inc. by 36.7%, holding 22,175 shares valued at approximately $3.91 million, making it the fund's 12th largest holding.
• Analysts have generally positive views on Alphabet, with four analysts rating it as a Strong Buy and an average price target boost to about $245.88.
• Alphabet recently reported earnings of $2.31 per share for the last quarter, exceeding expectations, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 paid on September 15th.

Sterling Investment Counsel LLC cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 36.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,175 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 12,839 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 2.3% of Sterling Investment Counsel LLC's holdings, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,908,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Verus Financial Partners Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 9.2% during the 2nd quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 2,710 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $479,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Mattern Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $260,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 15,649 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,758,000 after acquiring an additional 337 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 22,671 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,995,000 after acquiring an additional 484 shares during the last quarter. Finally, River Street Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 16.6% in the 2nd quarter. River Street Advisors LLC now owns 19,247 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,392,000 after acquiring an additional 2,739 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Alphabet from $230.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group boosted their price target on Alphabet from $237.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday. Susquehanna boosted their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Citizens Jmp boosted their price target on Alphabet from $250.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $245.88.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.1%

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $236.57 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $256.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $226.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $188.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.86 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The company had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th were issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 8.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.41, for a total value of $7,910,825.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,402,119 shares in the company, valued at $584,699,785.79. This represents a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.44, for a total value of $149,664.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 5,716 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,425,799.04. This trade represents a 9.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 276,738 shares of company stock valued at $59,135,475. 11.64% of the stock is currently 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.

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