Carderock Capital Management Inc. Trims Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Carderock Capital Management Inc. lowered its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 14.0% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 50,229 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 8,156 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 2.3% of Carderock Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Carderock Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,852,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 242.9% in the 1st quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 85.7% in the 1st quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.1%

GOOGL stock opened at $254.72 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.08 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.13, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $209.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $180.36. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $256.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on Alphabet from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Westpark Capital boosted their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Alphabet from $225.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, JMP Securities boosted their price target on Alphabet from $250.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have issued a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $225.54.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.50, for a total value of $8,108,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,397,392 shares in the company, valued at approximately $598,149,304. This represents a 1.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $680,610.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 17,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,236,785. This represents a 13.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 258,088 shares of company stock worth $52,405,304 in the last quarter. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.