WealthShield Partners LLC Sells 10,558 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

WealthShield Partners LLC lowered its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 22.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,885 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 10,558 shares during the period. WealthShield Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,500,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $78,839,544,000 after buying an additional 14,307,345 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 141,615,284 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $24,857,017,000 after acquiring an additional 4,224,497 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 11.4% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 43,865,520 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,783,364,000 after acquiring an additional 4,473,901 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 43,648,514 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,749,806,000 after acquiring an additional 593,345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 39,792,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,153,481,000 after acquiring an additional 727,335 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $319.95 on Thursday. 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 $3.86 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.55, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s fifty day moving average is $266.58 and its 200 day moving average is $216.93. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $328.83.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. CIBC raised their target price on shares of Alphabet to $315.00 in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. BNP Paribas Exane assumed coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $355.00 target price for the company. New Street Research increased their target price on Alphabet from $275.00 to $295.00 in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $307.84.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.64, for a total transaction of $9,640,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,304,619 shares in the company, valued at $683,642,180.16. This represents a 1.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.26, for a total transaction of $800,786.28. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 11,739 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,383,884.14. The trade was a 19.14% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 225,072 shares of company stock worth $58,074,027. Company insiders own 11.64% 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.