Wealth Alliance LLC Cuts Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• Wealth Alliance LLC trimmed its Alphabet stake by 15.6% in Q2, selling 2,937 shares and ending the period with 15,836 shares valued at $2.809 million.
• Several brokerages raised ratings and price targets (Wolfe Research to $350, Bank of America to $335), leaving a MarketBeat consensus of “Moderate Buy” and an average target of $324.81.
• Alphabet beat estimates with Q results of $2.87 EPS and $102.35B revenue, announced a $0.21 quarterly dividend, and insiders have sold roughly 221,796 shares (~$54M) in the past 90 days.

Wealth Alliance LLC cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 15.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,836 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 2,937 shares during the quarter. Wealth Alliance LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,809,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. IFS Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 400.0% in the 2nd quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Robbins Farley boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 60.0% during the second quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 160 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 58.7% in the second quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Fairman Group LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 121.3% in the 2nd quarter. Fairman Group LLC now owns 177 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the first quarter worth $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on GOOG. Wolfe Research upped their price objective on Alphabet from $290.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $324.81.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock traded down $6.72 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $280.71. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,035,460 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,255,611. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $292.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The company has a market cap of $3.39 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.60, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $256.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $208.20.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 36.08%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.12 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 8th will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.28%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total transaction of $4,408,034.72. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,985 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,635,348.70. This trade represents a 29.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.80, for a total value of $32,681.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 18,004 shares in the company, valued at $5,253,567.20. This trade represents a 0.62% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 221,796 shares of company stock worth $53,983,001 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

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.

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