Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC

Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC cut its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 74.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 57,582 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 172,092 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 0.8% of Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,148,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $4,317,606,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $78,839,544,000 after acquiring an additional 14,307,345 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 11.4% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 11.8% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Evergreen Quality Fund GP Ltd. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 178.3% during the first quarter. Evergreen Quality Fund GP Ltd. now owns 4,003,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $619,163,000 after buying an additional 2,565,400 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.3%

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $251.03 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month 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 company has a market capitalization of $3.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.00. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $229.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $190.28.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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. As a group, research analysts predict 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 8.95%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $680,610.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,293 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,236,785. This trade represents a 13.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.50, for a total transaction of $8,108,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,397,392 shares in the company, valued at approximately $598,149,304. The trade was a 1.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 244,438 shares of company stock valued at $53,216,085. 11.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. HSBC initiated coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $285.00 price target for the company. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $270.00 price objective (up previously from $235.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, JMP Securities increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $250.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $249.26.

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.