Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership Cuts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership reduced its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.8% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 17,600 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 700 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 2.2% of Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,228,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GOOG. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the second quarter worth about $37,000. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP bought a new stake in Alphabet in the second quarter worth about $44,000. Hoese & Co LLP raised its position in Alphabet by 62.5% in the second quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 260 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the second quarter worth about $48,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.74, for a total transaction of $4,201,650.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,227,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $415,941,874.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.74, for a total value of $4,201,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,227,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $415,941,874.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 202,667 shares of company stock valued at $33,964,256 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $160.81 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $167.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $166.60. 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 $1.99 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.66, a PEG 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 released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.44 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.27%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Rosenblatt Securities cut shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.