Granite Investment Partners LLC Cuts Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Granite Investment Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 213,937 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 7,814 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 1.6% of Granite Investment Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Granite Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $39,240,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 11.9% in the 1st quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 109,878 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $16,730,000 after purchasing an additional 11,646 shares in the last quarter. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $390,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 187,229 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $28,508,000 after purchasing an additional 8,201 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 11,366 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,097,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliance Wealth Management Group lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 93.6% in the 1st quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group now owns 3,910 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $595,000 after purchasing an additional 1,890 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.5 %

GOOG stock opened at $163.24 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.04, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. 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 stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $166.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $166.58. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $121.46 and a twelve month high of $193.31.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.27%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on GOOG shares. Wolfe Research upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 28th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, DA Davidson raised Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.86.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total transaction of $125,126.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 30,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,623,355.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total value of $125,126.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 30,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,623,355.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.74, for a total value of $4,201,650.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,227,385 shares in the company, valued at $415,941,874.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 202,667 shares of company stock worth $33,964,256. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Company 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.