VitalStone Financial LLC Lowers Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

VitalStone Financial LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 6.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,349 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 381 shares during the period. VitalStone Financial LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $981,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOG. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $4,101,040,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 19.7% in 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 purchasing an additional 13,876,534 shares during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at about $1,378,708,000. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% in 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 purchasing an additional 7,470,042 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 51.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 2,190,795 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were 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 directly owns 30,650 shares in the company, valued at $5,623,355.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total value of $3,442,233.45. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 39,334 shares in the company, valued at $6,307,206.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 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 transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 201,867 shares of company stock worth $34,218,581 over the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on GOOG shares. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities cut shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 28th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.86.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $158.37 on Friday. 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 stock has a market cap of $1.95 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.29, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a 50-day moving average of $169.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $165.96. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $121.46 and a 12-month high of $193.31.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. The business 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 company’s quarterly 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 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.27%.

Alphabet Company 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.