ERn Financial LLC Sells 13,405 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

ERn Financial LLC trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 80.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,305 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 13,405 shares during the quarter. ERn Financial LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $582,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 242.9% in the first quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the period. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 85.7% during the 1st quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter worth approximately $39,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Loop Capital reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 target price (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Alphabet from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-three have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $240.76.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. This represents a 35.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total value of $5,992,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,527,392 shares in the company, valued at $466,000,536.96. This represents a 1.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 276,738 shares of company stock valued at $59,135,475. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.1%

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $245.35 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $256.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The firm has a market cap of $2.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $221.25 and its 200-day moving average is $185.96.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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 yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

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.