SMART Wealth LLC Cuts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

SMART Wealth LLC cut its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 24.1% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,770 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 879 shares during the quarter. SMART Wealth LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $459,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its stake in Alphabet by 75.0% in the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. LMR Partners LLP purchased a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at about $36,000. Denver PWM LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $53,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of GOOGL opened at $191.41 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.34 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.39, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. 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 firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $174.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $171.33. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $130.66 and a twelve month high of $201.42.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.55 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on GOOGL. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. DA Davidson began coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 price target on the stock. China Renaissance upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 price target (up from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target 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. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $206.69.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.84, for a total value of $230,804.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,927,257.72. This trade represents a 4.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.07, for a total transaction of $3,759,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,129,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $355,743,153.42. This represents a 1.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 178,957 shares of company stock valued at $31,358,687 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

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.