Emerald Advisers LLC Sells 1,500 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Emerald Advisers LLC lowered its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 6.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 21,699 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,500 shares during the quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,952,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. NINE MASTS CAPITAL Ltd bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $5,297,000. Summit X LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 63.0% during the fourth quarter. Summit X LLC now owns 25,400 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,548,000 after purchasing an additional 9,820 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its position in Alphabet by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 258,299 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $36,082,000 after purchasing an additional 4,634 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 8,568,734 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,196,966,000 after purchasing an additional 278,134 shares during the period. Finally, Gainplan LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 24.6% during the fourth quarter. Gainplan LLC now owns 2,951 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $412,000 after purchasing an additional 583 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Argus raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $222.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and issued a $206.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, TD Securities raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.08.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the firm’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 value of $429,587.55. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,182 shares in the company, valued at $4,421,948.46. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the firm’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 value of $429,587.55. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,182 shares in the company, valued at $4,421,948.46. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total transaction of $3,442,233.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 39,334 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,307,206.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 180,167 shares of company stock worth $29,762,606. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.9 %

GOOGL stock opened at $163.59 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $120.21 and a one year high of $191.75. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $164.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $165.55. 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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The firm had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.60 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.44 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 12.27%.

Alphabet 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.