Howard Capital Management Inc. Reduces Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Howard Capital Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.0% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 64,823 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,990 shares during the quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,127,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Concentrum Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 17,328 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,300,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 10.6% in the 4th quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 593 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $113,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Kidder Stephen W lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Kidder Stephen W now owns 3,608 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $687,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Objectivity Squared LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 0.4% during the first quarter. Objectivity Squared LLC now owns 16,342 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,605,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. Finally, Tranquility Partners LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 0.4% during the first quarter. Tranquility Partners LLC now owns 14,488 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,263,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Citizens Jmp upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. BNP Paribas lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $215.19.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $196.43 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The firm has a market cap of $2.38 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.92, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a 50-day moving average of $178.00 and a 200 day moving average of $174.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.67 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. This represents a 1.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 249,298 shares of company stock valued at $43,505,967. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.