ERTS Wealth Advisors LLC Trims Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

ERTS Wealth Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,322 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 421 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 0.3% of ERTS Wealth Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. ERTS Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,516,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management grew its holdings in Alphabet by 55.4% during the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 214,443 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,956,000 after buying an additional 76,410 shares in the last quarter. Robbins Farley boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 15,006 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,096,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $787,000. CKW Financial Group boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 13,830 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,150,000 after acquiring an additional 760 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,700 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $377,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $163.80 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $120.21 and a 1 year high of $191.75. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $174.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $162.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 2.08. The company has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.12, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.60 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.44 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 12.27%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price target on Alphabet from $173.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Alphabet from $176.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $196.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.74.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.85, for a total value of $278,775.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 30,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,728,640.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total value of $600,175.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9 shares in the company, valued at $1,655.91. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.85, for a total value of $278,775.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 30,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,728,640.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 156,565 shares of company stock valued at $26,823,893. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.