Costello Asset Management INC Sells 178 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Costello Asset Management INC lessened its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 53,689 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 178 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 3.6% of Costello Asset Management INC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Costello Asset Management INC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $9,524,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 400.0% in the second quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the period. Robbins Farley boosted its stake in Alphabet by 60.0% in the second quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 160 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. WestEnd Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 58.7% in the second quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. Finally, Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.44, for a total transaction of $149,664.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 5,716 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,425,799.04. This represents a 9.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 953 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.20, for a total transaction of $229,863.60. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,171,312.80. This represents a 5.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 276,338 shares of company stock valued at $59,062,683. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on GOOG shares. Mizuho upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Barclays restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Pivotal Research upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $245.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. 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 issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $241.00.

Alphabet Trading Up 3.0%

Alphabet stock opened at $244.64 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $227.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $190.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.96 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $256.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The business’s revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

About Alphabet

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.