Valued Wealth Advisors LLC Decreases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Valued Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 22.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 896 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 262 shares during the quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $139,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at about $39,000. Elite Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at about $42,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $49,000. Finally, EQ Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at about $49,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Citizens Jmp raised Alphabet from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, June 27th. DA Davidson lowered their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.68.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.8%

Alphabet stock opened at $185.06 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. The stock has a market cap of $2.25 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.00. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $172.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $173.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,192,275. This represents a 8.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 261,966 shares in the company, valued at $45,844,050. This trade represents a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 215,843 shares of company stock valued at $37,288,490 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Company 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.