SJS Investment Consulting Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

SJS Investment Consulting Inc. reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,609 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 139 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 0.5% of SJS Investment Consulting Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. SJS Investment Consulting Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,496,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $8,232,000. LB Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,424,000. Priebe Wealth Holdings LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $638,000. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 198.7% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 3,882,882 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $547,215,000 after purchasing an additional 2,583,128 shares during the period. Finally, Janiczek Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,175 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,293,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.86, for a total transaction of $118,572.52. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,209,888.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.86, for a total value of $118,572.52. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,966 shares in the company, valued at $5,209,888.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.58, for a total value of $3,973,050.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,235,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $394,746,532.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 121,608 shares of company stock worth $21,567,504. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Rosenblatt Securities cut shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, June 28th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $182.86.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG stock traded down $4.74 on Wednesday, reaching $161.19. The stock had a trading volume of 12,892,766 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,456,904. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $121.46 and a 1 year high of $193.31. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $178.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $163.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.08. The stock has a market cap of $1.99 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The firm had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.44 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.62 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.27%.

About Alphabet

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.