Virtus Family Office LLC Reduces Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Virtus Family Office LLC reduced its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 32.5% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 9,192 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 4,425 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 2.1% of Virtus Family Office LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Virtus Family Office LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,620,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 242.9% during the 1st quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. IMA Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 85.7% during the first quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 36.4% in the 2nd quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 954 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.33, for a total transaction of $269,342.82. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 14,517 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,098,584.61. The trade was a 6.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.92, for a total value of $145,752.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 5,116 shares in the company, valued at $1,242,778.72. This trade represents a 10.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 221,796 shares of company stock worth $53,983,001. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $291.31 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $254.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $206.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market cap of $3.52 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $291.92.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 36.08%. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 8.28%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GOOGL. Citizens Jmp upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $250.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Alphabet from $236.00 to $268.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. BNP Paribas Exane increased their price objective on Alphabet from $247.00 to $281.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $290.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $304.10.

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.