Focused Wealth Management Inc Lowers Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Focused Wealth Management Inc lowered its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 34,471 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 230 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 0.9% of Focused Wealth Management Inc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. Focused Wealth Management Inc’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,279,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its position in Alphabet by 75.0% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. boosted its position in Alphabet by 59.2% in the 1st quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 293 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $208.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Argus raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, September 5th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $190.00 price objective on the stock. Loop Capital restated a “hold” rating and issued a $170.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, DA Davidson assumed coverage on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 price objective on the stock. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.76.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.40, for a total value of $3,991,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,213,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $392,588,151.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total transaction of $125,126.54. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 30,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,623,355.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.40, for a total transaction of $3,991,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,213,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $392,588,151.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 179,367 shares of company stock valued at $30,016,931 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $151.16 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $120.21 and a 1 year high of $191.75. 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 company has a market capitalization of $1.86 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.18, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. The company’s fifty day moving average is $168.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $164.42.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.44 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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 issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

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.