Knuff & Co LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Knuff & Co LLC decreased its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,185 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 75 shares during the quarter. Knuff & Co LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,402,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its holdings in Alphabet by 75.0% during the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth $36,000. Finally, CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 59.2% in the 1st quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 293 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $157.46 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $120.21 and a 12 month high of $191.75. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $167.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $164.67. The firm has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.15, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.60 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 12.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total transaction of $600,175.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,655.91. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total transaction of $600,175.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,655.91. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total transaction of $429,587.55. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,182 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,421,948.46. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 179,367 shares of company stock worth $30,016,931 in the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Argus upped their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Alphabet from $176.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Guggenheim raised their target price on Alphabet from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Bank of America increased their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $206.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and set a $206.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.76.

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.