Verde Capital Management Lowers Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Verde Capital Management cut its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 20.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,691 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 4,045 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 0.9% of Verde Capital Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Verde Capital Management’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,878,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Partnership Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Equitec Proprietary Markets LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG traded up $1.57 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $164.74. The company had a trading volume of 16,853,137 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,481,816. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.27, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $121.46 and a 52-week high of $193.31. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $177.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $163.73. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.86, for a total transaction of $118,572.52. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,209,888.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,765,346. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,966 shares in the company, valued at $5,209,888.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 155,865 shares of company stock worth $27,137,693. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on GOOG shares. Wolfe Research raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lowered 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $182.86.

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.