Cornerstone Advisors LLC Decreases Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Cornerstone Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 587,400 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 4.4% of Cornerstone Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Cornerstone Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $107,741,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the second quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,985 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,465,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. PCG Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. PCG Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,880 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $345,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV now owns 3,636 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $667,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV increased its holdings in Alphabet by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV now owns 2,944 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $540,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 11.1% during the first quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC now owns 600 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $91,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. DA Davidson upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.86.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $160.28 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $167.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $166.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.98 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.58, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. 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 Inc. has a 52-week low of $121.46 and a 52-week high of $193.31.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.44 earnings per share. Alphabet’s revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.75, for a total transaction of $123,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 28,524 shares in the company, valued at $4,385,565. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total value of $600,175.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9 shares of the company’s stock, 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, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.75, for a total transaction of $123,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 28,524 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,385,565. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 202,667 shares of company stock valued at $34,341,581. 12.99% 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.