Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Has $26.93 Million Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC cut its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 81.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 147,825 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 646,460 shares during the quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $26,926,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 75.0% during the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 59.2% in the first quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 293 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 30,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,623,355.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,765,346. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total transaction of $125,126.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 30,650 shares in the company, valued at $5,623,355.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 179,367 shares of company stock valued at $30,016,931. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $154.69 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $120.21 and a 12-month high of $191.75. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a market cap of $1.91 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $168.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $164.36.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.60 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.44 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.64 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, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.27%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. TD Securities upped their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $176.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 24th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $181.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price objective on Alphabet from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.76.

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.