Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Ensign Peak Advisors Inc

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc trimmed its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 9.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,589,789 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 377,083 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 1.2% of Ensign Peak Advisors Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $658,439,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOG. Gilbert & Cook Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 15.5% in the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 29,159 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,109,000 after purchasing an additional 3,924 shares during the last quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 25.0% during the 4th quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 16,440 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,317,000 after acquiring an additional 3,283 shares during the period. Aveo Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,647 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $937,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $620,000. Finally, GW&K Investment Management LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 3,434 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $484,000 after purchasing an additional 402 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. DA Davidson upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.86.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.9 %

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $164.64 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $121.46 and a fifty-two week high of $193.31. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $166.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $166.79. The stock has a market cap of $2.03 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.44 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.63, for a total transaction of $3,614,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,114,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $339,713,977.55. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total value of $600,175.38. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,655.91. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.63, for a total transaction of $3,614,175.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,114,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $339,713,977.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 202,667 shares of company stock worth $33,964,256. 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.