GHP Investment Advisors Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

GHP Investment Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 115,213 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,973 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 1.1% of GHP Investment Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. GHP Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $21,132,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $4,101,040,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 19.7% in the first 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 period. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,378,708,000. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 9.3% during 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 period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in Alphabet by 51.8% during the 1st 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 last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total value of $125,126.54. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 30,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,623,355.50. 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 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 owns 30,650 shares in the company, valued at $5,623,355.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 9 shares in the company, valued at $1,655.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 201,867 shares of company stock worth $34,218,581. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.8 %

GOOG stock opened at $158.37 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $121.46 and a fifty-two week high of $193.31. The company has a market capitalization of $1.95 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $169.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $166.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $84.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.44 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on GOOG. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, June 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. DA Davidson raised Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $182.86.

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.