S&CO Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

S&CO Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 105,206 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 4,445 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.1% of S&CO Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding. S&CO Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $17,448,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. New Hampshire Trust increased its holdings in Alphabet by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. New Hampshire Trust now owns 43,714 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,963,000 after acquiring an additional 1,132 shares during the last quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% during the third quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $771,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% in the third quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 33,751 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,598,000 after acquiring an additional 4,905 shares during the period. abrdn plc boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.7% in the third quarter. abrdn plc now owns 6,305,717 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,037,196,000 after acquiring an additional 611,233 shares during the period. Finally, StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the third quarter. StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. now owns 21,509 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,567,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $168.95 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.41, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.03. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $168.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $170.31. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $127.90 and a one year high of $191.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.68, for a total transaction of $3,570,300.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,137,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $339,160,251.80. This trade represents a 1.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total transaction of $109,420.08. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,017 shares in the company, valued at $5,136,807.48. The trade was a 2.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,673,866 in the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on GOOGL. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $210.00 price objective (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 price objective (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Roth Mkm raised their price objective on Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.90.

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.