Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Veracity Capital LLC

Veracity Capital LLC reduced its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 16.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,882 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,715 shares during the period. Veracity Capital LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,352,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOG. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 80,246,520 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,309,370,000 after buying an additional 862,550 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $4,101,040,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 28,800,413 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,058,842,000 after buying an additional 481,376 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 28,558,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,024,679,000 after buying an additional 813,428 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 12,638,895 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,781,200,000 after purchasing an additional 97,603 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $187.39 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $176.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $157.00. The company has a market cap of $2.32 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.83 and a 52 week high of $187.62.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.38. The business had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $78.75 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.17 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a — dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total transaction of $3,541,725.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,303,011 shares in the company, valued at $362,516,961.51. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total value of $125,126.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 30,650 shares in the company, valued at $5,623,355.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total transaction of $3,541,725.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,303,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $362,516,961.51. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 146,288 shares of company stock worth $25,345,053. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GOOG. Rosenblatt Securities lowered Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $167.86.

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.