Sonora Investment Management Group LLC Sells 1,329 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Sonora Investment Management Group LLC decreased its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 49,586 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,329 shares during the quarter. Sonora Investment Management Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,739,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth about $4,317,606,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $78,839,544,000 after buying an additional 14,307,345 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 307.6% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,302,644 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,593,201,000 after buying an additional 7,774,811 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 11.4% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 43,865,520 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,783,364,000 after buying an additional 4,473,901 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 11.8% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 33,403,871 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,034,992,000 after buying an additional 3,537,173 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. This represents a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 276,738 shares of company stock worth $59,135,475. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $245.35 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $256.00. The company has a market cap of $2.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.13, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $221.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $185.80.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. On average, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th were given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 8.95%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GOOGL. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $192.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $270.00 price target (up from $235.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Citizens Jmp upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $250.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-three have issued a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $240.76.

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.