Belpointe Asset Management LLC Cuts Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Belpointe Asset Management LLC cut its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 45,902 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,249 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 0.6% of Belpointe Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. Belpointe Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,419,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $4,101,040,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 19.7% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 84,171,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,815,986,000 after purchasing an additional 13,876,534 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter worth $1,378,708,000. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,716,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,355,724,000 after purchasing an additional 7,470,042 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 51.8% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,416,150 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $976,923,000 after purchasing an additional 2,190,795 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $152.13 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $121.46 and a fifty-two week high of $193.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.88 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.33, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.08. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $172.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $165.62.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.22 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.44 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wolfe Research upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $182.86.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.92, for a total transaction of $266,880.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,727 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $663,107.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.92, for a total transaction of $266,880.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,727 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $663,107.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.74, for a total value of $4,201,650.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,227,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $415,941,874.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 200,532 shares of company stock worth $34,055,874 over the last quarter. 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.