Curran Financial Partners LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Curran Financial Partners LLC cut its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,759 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 105 shares during the period. Curran Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,015,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 42,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,371,905.30. The trade was a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director directly owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at $45,213,984. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 276,738 shares of company stock worth $59,135,475. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GOOGL. HSBC began coverage on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $285.00 price target on the stock. Melius Research boosted their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $255.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Alphabet from $237.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $245.88.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $236.57 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $2.86 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.19, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $256.00. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $226.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $188.49.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th were issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 8.95%.

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.