Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Has $6.59 Million Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 10.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 42,169 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 5,077 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,588,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 111.8% during the first quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the first quarter valued at about $26,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of Alphabet stock traded up $1.24 during trading on Friday, hitting $185.94. The stock had a trading volume of 20,915,424 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,558,739. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $174.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $174.72. The company has a market capitalization of $2.26 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a $0.21 dividend. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 261,966 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,844,050. This trade represents a 3.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total transaction of $5,992,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,527,392 shares in the company, valued at $466,000,536.96. The trade was a 1.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 215,843 shares of company stock worth $37,288,490. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOG. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "equal weight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Needham & Company LLC cut Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Citigroup restated a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Lake Street Capital restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $208.40.

Alphabet Company 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.