Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Stock Position Decreased by CSM Advisors LLC

CSM Advisors LLC decreased its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 158,875 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 160 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 1.4% of CSM Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. CSM Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $24,822,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 111.8% in the 1st quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth approximately $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Roth Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $186.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $215.19.

Alphabet Stock Up 3.0%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $206.72 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $2.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $209.23. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $187.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $174.60.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The firm’s revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. On average, equities research 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, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 42,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,371,905.30. The trade was a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.92, for a total value of $6,497,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,462,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $492,281,408.64. This represents a 1.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 254,719 shares of company stock worth $47,223,172 over the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.