SFE Investment Counsel Trims Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

SFE Investment Counsel lowered its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 40,540 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,754 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 1.6% of SFE Investment Counsel’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. SFE Investment Counsel’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,384,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Howard Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% in the second quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 36,035 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,564,000 after acquiring an additional 384 shares in the last quarter. Flynn Zito Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 10.5% in the 2nd quarter. Flynn Zito Capital Management LLC now owns 3,736 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $680,000 after purchasing an additional 356 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 389,837 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $71,009,000 after purchasing an additional 17,249 shares during the period. Northwest Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Northwest Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,666 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $486,000 after buying an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 14.4% during the 2nd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 7,552 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,376,000 after buying an additional 948 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the business’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 value of $600,175.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,655.91. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.84, for a total transaction of $4,113,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,204,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $403,141,173.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of Alphabet 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,655.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 180,167 shares of company stock worth $29,762,606. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $163.59 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $120.21 and a 52-week high of $191.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.09, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $164.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $165.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.44 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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 $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 12.27%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Argus raised their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $220.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. DA Davidson initiated coverage on Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 price target for the company. Finally, Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $196.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, September 16th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.08.

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.