Valley Wealth Managers Inc. Decreases Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Key Points

• Valley Wealth Managers Inc. decreased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. by 1.5%, maintaining 139,484 shares valued at approximately $21.57 million.
• Several hedge funds modified their positions in Alphabet, with Mystic Asset Management Inc. increasing its stake by 6.7% in the first quarter.
• Alphabet recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, representing a yield of 0.4%, with a payout ratio of 8.95%.

Valley Wealth Managers Inc. lowered its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 1.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 139,484 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 2,053 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 1.6% of Valley Wealth Managers Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. Valley Wealth Managers Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $21,570,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Perritt Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc now owns 618 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $117,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Nia Impact Advisors LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Nia Impact Advisors LLC now owns 17,161 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,249,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Hanlon Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Hanlon Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,553 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $673,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Enzi Wealth increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Enzi Wealth now owns 2,561 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $408,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 5,438 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $817,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 3.1%

NASDAQ:GOOGL traded up $5.91 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $195.04. 31,493,654 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 37,132,445. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.36 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $178.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $172.82. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $96,428,000 billion during 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on GOOGL. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Alphabet from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Roth Capital boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $211.39.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm'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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. This trade 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 the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The shares were 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 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. Insiders have sold 249,399 shares of company stock valued at $43,525,794 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

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.