Gabelli Funds LLC Cuts Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Gabelli Funds LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 577,123 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 4,211 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 0.8% of Gabelli Funds LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Gabelli Funds LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $105,856,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 19.7% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 84,171,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,815,986,000 after purchasing an additional 13,876,534 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at about $1,378,708,000. Capital International Investors grew its stake in Alphabet by 9.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,716,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,355,724,000 after purchasing an additional 7,470,042 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 51.8% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,416,150 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $976,923,000 after purchasing an additional 2,190,795 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vima LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 178,253.1% during the first quarter. Vima LLC now owns 2,001,122 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $304,691,000 after buying an additional 2,000,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $164.64 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $166.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $167.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 2.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.03 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $121.46 and a 12-month high of $193.31.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.44 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. DA Davidson upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities cut shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, June 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $182.86.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,765,346. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,114,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $339,713,977.55. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total value of $5,570,188.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,765,346. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 202,667 shares of company stock valued at $33,964,256. Corporate insiders own 12.99% 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.