Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Position Lowered by Nicholas Company Inc.

Nicholas Company Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 10.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,176,195 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 137,905 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 3.6% of Nicholas Company Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Nicholas Company Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $215,738,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 11.9% during the 1st quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 109,878 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $16,730,000 after purchasing an additional 11,646 shares in the last quarter. Investment Partners LTD. boosted its position in Alphabet by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Investment Partners LTD. now owns 7,446 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,049,000 after buying an additional 410 shares during the last quarter. Apexium Financial LP grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 335.9% during the fourth quarter. Apexium Financial LP now owns 53,823 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,586,000 after acquiring an additional 41,476 shares in the last quarter. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.3% in the second quarter. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $390,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oak Ridge Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 4.6% in the first quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 187,229 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $28,508,000 after purchasing an additional 8,201 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,209,888.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,209,888.76. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.92, for a total value of $266,880.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,727 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $663,107.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 179,065 shares of company stock worth $31,025,543. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $167.43 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $121.46 and a twelve month high of $193.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.68, a PEG 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $176.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $164.50.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.22 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.44 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company 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 $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.27%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. 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. Rosenblatt Securities lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $182.86.

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.