Ascent Group LLC Sells 2,763 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Ascent Group LLC lowered its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 58,185 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,763 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 0.9% of Ascent Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,672,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Gilbert & Cook Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 15.5% in the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 29,159 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,109,000 after buying an additional 3,924 shares during the last quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management boosted its position in Alphabet by 25.0% in the fourth quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 16,440 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,317,000 after purchasing an additional 3,283 shares during the last quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,647 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $937,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the period. Vannoy Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $312,000. Finally, Steward Partners Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,720,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on GOOG shares. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Wolfe Research raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, DA Davidson upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.29.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $165.29 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $164.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $167.97. The firm has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $121.46 and a twelve month high of $193.31. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total value of $600,175.38. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,655.91. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total value of $600,175.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,655.91. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 203,367 shares of company stock valued at $34,079,756 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.