Strategic Financial Services Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Strategic Financial Services Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 10.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,591 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,004 shares during the quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,329,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 242.9% during the 1st quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the period. IMA Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 85.7% during the 1st quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at about $39,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wedbush raised their target price on Alphabet from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $191.00 to $224.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $240.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have assigned a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $221.44.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.2%

GOOGL opened at $239.17 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $2.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $241.66. The business’s 50 day moving average is $199.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $176.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued 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 presently 8.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $200,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,383,200. The trade was a 12.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. The trade was a 35.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 254,710 shares of company stock worth $49,208,380. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.