Horan Securities Inc. Sells 229 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Horan Securities Inc. lowered its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,290 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 229 shares during the quarter. Horan Securities Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $584,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. IFS Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 400.0% during the second quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the period. Robbins Farley lifted its stake in Alphabet by 60.0% in 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 grew its holdings in Alphabet by 58.7% during the 2nd quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Fairman Group LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 121.3% during 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 position in Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $285.34 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market cap of $3.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $291.93. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $250.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $204.23.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a return on equity of 36.08% and a net margin of 32.23%.The company had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.12 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be issued 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 8.28%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 17,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,236,785. This trade represents a 13.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total transaction of $4,408,034.72. Following the sale, the insider owned 42,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,635,348.70. The trade was a 29.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 189,896 shares of company stock valued at $44,892,175 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. HSBC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $335.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Raymond James Financial set a $275.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Pivotal Research lifted their target price on Alphabet from $300.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.