Verity & Verity LLC Has $383,000 Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Verity & Verity LLC cut its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 35.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,161 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,190 shares during the period. Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $383,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,901,000 after purchasing an additional 6,410 shares during the last quarter. Passive Capital Management LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth $230,000. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 4.0% in the first quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 40,591 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,342,000 after buying an additional 1,557 shares in the last quarter. Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV grew its position in Alphabet by 8.4% in the first quarter. Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV now owns 20,952 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,273,000 after acquiring an additional 1,617 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Facet Wealth Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.7% in the first quarter. Facet Wealth Inc. now owns 4,910 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $815,000 after acquiring an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.0%

GOOG opened at $324.90 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $330.00. The company has a fifty day moving average of $264.32 and a 200-day moving average of $215.82. The stock has a market cap of $3.92 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a return on equity of 36.08% and a net margin of 32.23%.The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.12 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 8th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.28%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.06, for a total transaction of $168,036.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 4,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,264,750.96. This represents a 11.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.80, for a total value of $32,681.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 18,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,253,567.20. The trade was a 0.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 227,952 shares of company stock valued at $58,896,009. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays raised 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. Raymond James Financial set a $275.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. HSBC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $335.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Alphabet from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $324.81.

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.