Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by AQR Capital Management LLC

AQR Capital Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 7.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,609,018 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 395,025 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.3% of AQR Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. AQR Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $839,533,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 497,874,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $75,144,172,000 after acquiring an additional 4,064,073 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 14.4% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 57,803,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,724,251,000 after acquiring an additional 7,275,757 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.5% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 49,472,478 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,011,412,000 after acquiring an additional 238,403 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,178,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,310,925,000 after acquiring an additional 1,429,261 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.7% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 35,412,299 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,344,778,000 after acquiring an additional 597,756 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.84, for a total transaction of $230,804.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,183 shares in the company, valued at $4,927,257.72. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.84, for a total value of $4,113,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,204,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $403,141,173.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.84, for a total value of $230,804.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,927,257.72. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 217,592 shares of company stock worth $35,922,911 over the last three months. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on GOOGL shares. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Alphabet from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and issued a $206.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, September 30th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Alphabet from $190.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Mizuho 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. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.14.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $162.98 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a market cap of $2.01 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $162.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $167.41. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $120.21 and a 1 year high of $191.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.44 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 12.27%.

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.