Salomon & Ludwin LLC Cuts Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Salomon & Ludwin LLC cut its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 75.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,194 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 3,742 shares during the period. Salomon & Ludwin LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $219,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Partnership Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at $37,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of Alphabet stock traded up $0.49 during trading on Monday, hitting $167.92. The stock had a trading volume of 5,125,717 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,217,496. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $121.46 and a 12 month high of $193.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 2.08. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $176.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $164.76. The stock has a market cap of $2.08 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.63, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.44 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on GOOG. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. 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 shares of 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 downgraded Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $182.86.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total value of $3,772,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,159,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $362,126,319.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,209,888.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total value of $3,772,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,159,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $362,126,319.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 179,065 shares of company stock worth $31,025,543. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.