Pecaut & CO. Sells 4,720 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Pecaut & CO. decreased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 5.9% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 75,029 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 4,720 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 5.2% of Pecaut & CO.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Pecaut & CO.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $13,762,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter valued at $37,000. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at $44,000. Hoese & Co LLP raised its stake in Alphabet by 62.5% in the 2nd 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 last quarter. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth about $48,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $158.37 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.95 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $169.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $165.96. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $121.46 and a 1 year high of $193.31.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its 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. 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 analyst estimates of $84.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.44 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,765,346. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total value of $429,587.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,182 shares in the company, valued at $4,421,948.46. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,765,346. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 201,867 shares of company stock worth $34,218,581 over the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.