Blair William & Co. IL Sells 35,649 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Blair William & Co. IL decreased its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,180,029 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 35,649 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.6% of Blair William & Co. IL’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $564,105,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. ACT Advisors LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. ACT Advisors LLC. now owns 1,625 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $288,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. LongView Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. LongView Wealth Management now owns 5,126 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $909,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Kooman & Associates lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Kooman & Associates now owns 4,127 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $732,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,742 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $309,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brueske Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Brueske Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,194 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $389,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $237.49 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $2.87 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $256.70. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $226.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $189.99.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.95%.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.41, for a total transaction of $7,910,825.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,402,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $584,699,785.79. This trade represents a 1.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 103 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.13, for a total value of $25,042.39. Following the sale, the director owned 17,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,202,258.92. The trade was a 0.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 276,338 shares of company stock worth $59,062,683. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GOOG. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $270.00 price target (up from $235.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Alphabet from $230.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Citizens Jmp raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $241.00.

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.