Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Position Reduced by Forza Wealth Management LLC

Forza Wealth Management LLC trimmed its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 17.1% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,919 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 600 shares during the period. Forza Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $518,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Independence Bank of Kentucky lifted its stake in Alphabet by 10.2% in the 1st quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 14,907 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,329,000 after acquiring an additional 1,376 shares in the last quarter. RDA Financial Network lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.3% in the second quarter. RDA Financial Network now owns 11,094 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,968,000 after purchasing an additional 554 shares in the last quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.7% during the first quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 9,771 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,527,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the period. Oldfather Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter valued at approximately $213,000. Finally, GC Wealth Management RIA LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 115.7% in the 2nd quarter. GC Wealth Management RIA LLC now owns 214,392 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $38,031,000 after buying an additional 115,003 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on GOOG. Phillip Securities cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Alphabet from $186.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owned 42,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. This represents a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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. This trade represents a 1.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 276,738 shares of company stock valued at $59,135,475. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.4%

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $246.43 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $220.84 and its 200-day moving average is $186.43. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $256.70. The firm has a market cap of $2.98 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th were paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

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.