HS Management Partners LLC Sells 5,125 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

HS Management Partners LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 424,624 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 5,125 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 6.1% of HS Management Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. HS Management Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $75,324,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Evergreen Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 61.5% in the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 218 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $245.46 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $225.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $188.71. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $256.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The stock has a market cap of $2.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.14, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total transaction of $4,408,034.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 42,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,635,348.70. This trade represents a 29.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.44, for a total value of $149,664.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,716 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,425,799.04. This represents a 9.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 276,738 shares of company stock worth $59,135,475. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Lake Street Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Phillip Securities downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $237.68.

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.