Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Lowers Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC reduced its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,011,638 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 32,262 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $356,845,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 400.0% in the 2nd quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Robbins Farley lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 60.0% during the second quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 160 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. WestEnd Advisors LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 58.7% in the second quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Fairman Group LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 121.3% in the 2nd quarter. Fairman Group LLC now owns 177 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the period. Finally, Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on GOOG shares. HSBC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $335.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. DA Davidson set a $825.00 target price on Alphabet in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $275.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $324.81.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $285.34 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.45 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.14, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $291.93. 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 business has a fifty day moving average price of $250.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $204.23.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. The company had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 36.08%. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.12 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total value of $4,408,034.72. Following the transaction, the insider owned 42,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,635,348.70. This represents a 29.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.15, for a total value of $8,129,875.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,369,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $592,760,192.85. This trade represents a 1.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 189,896 shares of company stock worth $44,892,175. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.