Franchise Capital Ltd Reduces Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Franchise Capital Ltd trimmed its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 51.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 40,778 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 43,598 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 2.5% of Franchise Capital Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Franchise Capital Ltd’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,818,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 0.7% during the second quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,985 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,465,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. PCG Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. PCG Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,880 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $345,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV raised its stake in Alphabet by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV now owns 3,636 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $667,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV now owns 2,944 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $540,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 11.1% during the first quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC now owns 600 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $91,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities cut shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, June 28th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Pivotal Research started coverage on Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $215.00 price target for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $183.75.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $167.21 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $121.46 and a 1 year high of $193.31. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $163.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $168.49.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th were paid 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 yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total transaction of $429,587.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,182 shares in the company, valued at $4,421,948.46. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed 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 Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.85, for a total value of $278,775.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 30,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,728,640.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $4,421,948.46. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 217,592 shares of company stock worth $35,922,911. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.