Braun Stacey Associates Inc. Decreases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Braun Stacey Associates Inc. cut its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 243,008 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 4,248 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.5% of Braun Stacey Associates Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Braun Stacey Associates Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $44,573,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $4,101,040,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 19.7% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 84,171,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,815,986,000 after acquiring an additional 13,876,534 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth about $1,378,708,000. Capital International Investors grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,716,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,355,724,000 after purchasing an additional 7,470,042 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 51.8% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,416,150 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $976,923,000 after purchasing an additional 2,190,795 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of Alphabet stock traded up $1.71 on Friday, reaching $165.11. The company had a trading volume of 18,492,391 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,161,213. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $175.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $165.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $121.46 and a 1 year high of $193.31. The firm has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 2.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.44 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 $5,209,888.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.86, for a total value of $118,572.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,209,888.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now owns 29,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,838,460. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In 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 company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Rosenblatt Securities cut shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, June 28th. 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, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock 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.