Valley Wealth Managers Inc. Reduces Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Valley Wealth Managers Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 4,088 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 165 shares during the quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $683,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 10.4% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 100,845 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $16,860,000 after buying an additional 9,497 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% in the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 184,877 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $30,910,000 after acquiring an additional 3,214 shares in the last quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 48,319 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,079,000 after purchasing an additional 2,725 shares in the last quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.4% during the third quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 26,392 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,413,000 after buying an additional 879 shares during the period. Finally, Black Diamond Financial LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 4.6% in the third quarter. Black Diamond Financial LLC now owns 9,680 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,618,000 after acquiring an additional 427 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $173.89 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $167.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $171.65. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $129.40 and a 52-week high of $193.31. The firm has a market cap of $2.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.06, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. DA Davidson upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays upped their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price objective on the stock. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total transaction of $109,420.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,017 shares in the company, valued at $5,136,807.48. The trade was a 2.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total transaction of $3,772,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,159,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $362,126,319.10. This trade represents a 1.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,471,141 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.