Financial Avengers Inc. Cuts Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Financial Avengers Inc. reduced its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.6% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 87,237 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 487 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 7.2% of Financial Avengers Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Financial Avengers Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $15,475,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. IFS Advisors LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 400.0% during the 2nd quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Robbins Farley grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 60.0% during the second quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 160 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 58.7% during the second quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Fairman Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 121.3% in the 2nd quarter. Fairman Group LLC now owns 177 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation bought a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on GOOG shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $340.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Mizuho set a $325.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $304.62.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.15, for a total value of $8,129,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,369,619 shares in the company, valued at approximately $592,760,192.85. The trade was a 1.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.05, for a total value of $694,638.90. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 14,516 shares in the company, valued at $3,629,725.80. This trade represents a 16.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 227,850 shares of company stock valued at $58,874,814 over the last three months. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.0%

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $320.28 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $328.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $267.17 and its 200 day moving average is $217.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.86 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a return on equity of 36.08% and a net margin of 32.23%.The business had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.12 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.28%.

Alphabet 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.