B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Trims Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 16.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 170,539 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 34,147 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 0.8% of B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $31,280,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 19.7% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 84,171,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,815,986,000 after acquiring an additional 13,876,534 shares during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,378,708,000. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,716,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,355,724,000 after purchasing an additional 7,470,042 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 51.8% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,416,150 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $976,923,000 after purchasing an additional 2,190,795 shares during the period. Finally, Vima LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 178,253.1% in the first quarter. Vima LLC now owns 2,001,122 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $304,691,000 after buying an additional 2,000,000 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 30,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,623,355.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $415,941,874.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 30,650 shares in the company, valued at $5,623,355.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 200,105 shares of company stock worth $33,479,581. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GOOG. Wolfe Research raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, June 28th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.29.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $165.29 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $121.46 and a 52-week high of $193.31. 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $164.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $168.16. The stock has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.35, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.22 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. Alphabet’s revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.44 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.