Covington Investment Advisors Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Covington Investment Advisors Inc. decreased its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 220,125 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 3,987 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 6.5% of Covington Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its largest position. Covington Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $40,375,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9,200.0% in the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth $37,000. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth $44,000. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 62.5% during the second quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 260 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Rosenblatt Securities cut Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective 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. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.29.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $165.29 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $121.46 and a 52 week high of $193.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.08. The company has a market capitalization of $2.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.35, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $164.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $168.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 analysts’ expectations of $84.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.44 EPS. Alphabet’s revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

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. In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,765,346. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, 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. Insiders sold 200,105 shares of company stock valued at $33,479,581 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.