Emprise Bank Decreases Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Emprise Bank cut its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,010 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 359 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 0.9% of Emprise Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest position. Emprise Bank’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,776,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 111.8% in the 1st quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at about $34,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on GOOG. Phillip Securities downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $186.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Pivotal Research boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $245.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $270.00 target price (up previously from $235.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $227.56.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $680,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 17,293 shares in the company, valued at $4,236,785. This represents a 13.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $200,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,383,200. This represents a 12.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 225,588 shares of company stock worth $44,296,554 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.1%

GOOG opened at $251.42 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $205.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $179.98. The company has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $253.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The company’s revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

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.