Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Valley Wealth Managers Inc.

Valley Wealth Managers Inc. lowered its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 6.8% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 310 shares during the period. Valley Wealth Managers Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $780,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $4,101,040,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Alphabet by 19.7% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 84,171,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,815,986,000 after buying an additional 13,876,534 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,378,708,000. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,716,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,355,724,000 after acquiring an additional 7,470,042 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 51.8% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,416,150 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $976,923,000 after acquiring an additional 2,190,795 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.74, for a total value of $4,201,650.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,227,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $415,941,874.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total transaction of $600,175.38. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9 shares in the company, valued at $1,655.91. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.74, for a total transaction of $4,201,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,227,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $415,941,874.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 201,867 shares of company stock valued at $34,218,581. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GOOG. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, DA Davidson upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.86.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $158.37 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $169.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $166.15. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $1.95 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $121.46 and a 1 year high of $193.31.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.22 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The business’s revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.44 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.27%.

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.