Ascension Asset Management LLC Has $3.96 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Ascension Asset Management LLC reduced its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.3% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 21,590 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 70 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 2.0% of Ascension Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Ascension Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,960,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9,200.0% during the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth $44,000. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP boosted its holdings in shares of 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 during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 30,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,623,355.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total value of $5,570,188.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,765,346. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, 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 203,367 shares of company stock valued at $34,079,756. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GOOG. Rosenblatt Securities lowered Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.29.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $165.29 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 2.08. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $121.46 and a 1 year high of $193.31. The firm has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.35, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $164.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $167.97.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th were given 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 dividend yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.27%.

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.