VSM Wealth Advisory LLC Decreases Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

VSM Wealth Advisory LLC trimmed its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 59.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 395 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 581 shares during the quarter. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $61,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Elite Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, EQ Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at approximately $49,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Westpark Capital raised their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Barclays raised their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. BNP Paribas Exane restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $172.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Citizens Jmp upgraded Alphabet from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their target price on Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $211.32.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $192.58 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.00. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $176.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $172.79. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total transaction of $5,992,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,527,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $466,000,536.96. The trade was a 1.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 400 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.98, for a total value of $72,792.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,094,245.74. This trade represents a 6.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 249,409 shares of company stock valued at $43,523,710 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

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.