Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is Covington Investment Advisors Inc.’s Largest Position

Covington Investment Advisors Inc. lessened its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 220,125 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 3,987 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 6.5% of Covington Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its largest position. Covington Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $40,375,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9,200.0% during the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $37,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 62.5% during the second quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 260 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 30,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,623,355.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.74, for a total transaction of $4,201,650.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,227,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $415,941,874.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 200,105 shares of company stock valued at $33,479,581. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Rosenblatt Securities lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, June 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. DA Davidson upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Wolfe Research upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average 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. The company has a market capitalization of $2.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a 50 day moving average of $164.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $168.16. 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.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly 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 net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.22 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.44 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date was 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.