First Foundation Advisors Sells 5,263 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

First Foundation Advisors trimmed its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 606,585 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 5,263 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 4.3% of First Foundation Advisors’ holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. First Foundation Advisors’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $111,260,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GOOG. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $4,101,040,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 19.7% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 84,171,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,815,986,000 after buying an additional 13,876,534 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter valued at $1,378,708,000. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,716,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,355,724,000 after buying an additional 7,470,042 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 51.8% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,416,150 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $976,923,000 after buying an additional 2,190,795 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.40, for a total transaction of $3,991,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,213,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $392,588,151.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 30,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,623,355.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.40, for a total value of $3,991,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,213,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $392,588,151.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 201,867 shares of company stock worth $34,218,581. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GOOG. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Wolfe Research upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded 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. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $182.86.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $150.01 on Wednesday. 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 fifty-two week low of $121.46 and a fifty-two week high of $193.31. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $171.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $166.00. The firm has a market cap of $1.85 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.01, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.22 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The firm’s revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.44 EPS. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.27%.

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.