Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. Lowers Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 132,724 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,215 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 1.5% of Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $24,344,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Partnership Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GOOG. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, June 28th. Wolfe Research upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $182.86.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total transaction of $3,772,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,159,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $362,126,319.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total transaction of $3,772,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,159,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $362,126,319.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total value of $115,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 29,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,838,460. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 179,065 shares of company stock worth $31,025,543 over the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $0.79 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $164.19. 7,558,381 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,096,148. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $175.69 and a two-hundred day moving average of $165.02. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $121.46 and a 12-month high of $193.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.03 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The business’s revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.44 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

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.