Cladis Investment Advisory LLC Trims Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Cladis Investment Advisory LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 64.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,500 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 4,455 shares during the quarter. Cladis Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $391,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 39.3% during the 4th quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,964 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $945,000 after buying an additional 1,400 shares during the last quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.2% during the 1st quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 14,907 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,329,000 after buying an additional 1,376 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $824,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC lifted its stake in 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 last quarter. Finally, jvl associates llc lifted its stake in Alphabet by 3.5% during the first quarter. jvl associates llc now owns 10,055 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,571,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. This trade represents a 35.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. This trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 274,819 shares of company stock worth $49,796,547. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $204.91 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $185.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $174.52. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market cap of $2.48 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.02.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.95%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. BNP Paribas cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and set a $171.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $215.19.

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.