Howard Capital Management Group LLC Cuts Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Howard Capital Management Group LLC lessened its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 62,906 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 790 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $11,538,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1.1% during the second quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. now owns 80,455 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $14,757,000 after purchasing an additional 836 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 1.9% in the second quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 64,085 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,754,000 after acquiring an additional 1,168 shares during the last quarter. ORBA Wealth Advisors L.L.C. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.5% during the second quarter. ORBA Wealth Advisors L.L.C. now owns 19,875 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,645,000 after purchasing an additional 1,035 shares during the last quarter. Mainsail Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.7% during the second quarter. Mainsail Financial Group LLC now owns 8,696 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,595,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 181,921 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $33,368,000 after buying an additional 6,593 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock traded down $3.90 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $162.03. 22,415,546 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,494,863. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $121.46 and a 52-week high of $193.31. The stock has a market cap of $2.00 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.08. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $178.20 and its 200 day moving average is $163.67.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The firm had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.44 earnings per share. Alphabet’s revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.86, for a total transaction of $118,572.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,209,888.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.86, for a total transaction of $118,572.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,209,888.76. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.92, for a total value of $266,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,727 shares in the company, valued at $663,107.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 121,608 shares of company stock valued at $21,567,504 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on GOOG. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Friday, June 28th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $182.86.

Alphabet 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.