Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stake Cut by Clearbridge Investments LLC

Clearbridge Investments LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 11.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,038,566 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 132,113 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $190,494,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in Alphabet by 15.3% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 8,370 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,180,000 after buying an additional 1,113 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Sarl lifted its position in Alphabet by 9.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Sarl now owns 273,256 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $38,510,000 after purchasing an additional 24,610 shares during the last quarter. 360 Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $289,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 134.0% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 751,090 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $105,851,000 after purchasing an additional 430,174 shares during the period. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 28.3% in the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 404,285 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $56,976,000 after purchasing an additional 89,284 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.00, for a total value of $114,576.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 31,334 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,264,112. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.00, for a total value of $114,576.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 31,334 shares in the company, valued at $5,264,112. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,802 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.47, for a total transaction of $2,780,226.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,999 shares in the company, valued at $7,280,514.53. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 193,725 shares of company stock worth $31,933,031. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $168.42 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $163.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $168.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $121.46 and a fifty-two week high of $193.31. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.22 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOG. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Wolfe Research upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. DA Davidson raised Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $183.75.

Alphabet Company 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.