Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Chesley Taft & Associates LLC

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC lessened its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 476,099 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,994 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 4.4% of Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $87,326,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $8,232,000. Quantum Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Quantum Private Wealth LLC now owns 53,327 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,515,000 after acquiring an additional 217 shares during the last quarter. Sfmg LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Sfmg LLC now owns 70,902 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,992,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the last quarter. Elite Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Elite Wealth Management Inc. now owns 34,064 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,801,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goodman Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 19.4% in the 4th quarter. Goodman Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,313 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $467,000 after purchasing an additional 539 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.74, for a total value of $4,201,650.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,227,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $415,941,874.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.74, for a total transaction of $4,201,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,227,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $415,941,874.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.86, for a total value 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 155,865 shares of company stock worth $27,137,693 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $182.86.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG stock traded up $1.57 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $164.74. The stock had a trading volume of 16,853,137 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,481,816. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $177.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $163.96. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $121.46 and a 52 week high of $193.31.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.44 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

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.