Canopy Partners LLC Lowers Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Canopy Partners LLC cut its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 5.9% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 11,128 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 700 shares during the quarter. Canopy Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,974,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. IFS Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 400.0% in the second quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Robbins Farley grew its holdings in Alphabet by 60.0% in the second quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 160 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Goodman Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GOOG. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Roth Capital reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $241.00.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.9%

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $237.49 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $226.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $189.66. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $256.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market cap of $2.87 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.29, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.00.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total value of $5,992,350.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,527,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $466,000,536.96. This represents a 1.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at $45,213,984. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 276,738 shares of company stock valued at $59,135,475. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.