Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE Lowers Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE lowered its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 59,999 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,863 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 1.9% of Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $9,135,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Partnership Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Equitec Proprietary Markets LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on GOOG. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Rosenblatt Securities cut Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, June 28th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.38.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG stock traded up $2.22 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $192.66. The stock had a trading volume of 12,042,383 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,787,037. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 2.15. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.83 and a twelve month high of $193.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.38 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.59, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $177.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $158.32.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.38. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $78.75 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.17 EPS. Alphabet’s revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a — dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.27%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.74, for a total transaction 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total transaction of $600,175.38. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,655.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 146,288 shares of company stock valued at $25,345,053 in the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.