V2 Financial group LLC Cuts Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

V2 Financial group LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 35.4% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 4,408 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,417 shares during the period. V2 Financial group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $777,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Caxton Associates LLP raised its position in Alphabet by 121.0% in the second quarter. Caxton Associates LLP now owns 134,683 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $23,735,000 after purchasing an additional 73,738 shares during the period. Castleark Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.9% in the second quarter. Castleark Management LLC now owns 387,514 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $68,292,000 after buying an additional 21,425 shares during the period. Second Line Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.3% in the second quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 4,380 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $772,000 after buying an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Rexford Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at about $84,000. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in Alphabet by 21.7% during the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 11,890,439 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,095,479,000 after acquiring an additional 2,116,512 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.0%

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $309.29 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.73 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $328.83. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $283.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $229.57.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. The business had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. 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 is presently 8.28%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total value of $4,408,034.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 42,985 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,635,348.70. This trade represents a 29.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $680,610.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 17,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,236,785. This trade represents a 13.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 226,128 shares of company stock valued at $61,326,372 in the last quarter. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. New Street Research upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $275.00 to $295.00 in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Arete Research raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $300.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $350.00 price target (up previously from $290.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Citizens Jmp boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $250.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $314.22.

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.