Farallon Capital Management LLC Has $329.52 Million Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Farallon Capital Management LLC cut its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 46.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,796,540 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,541,410 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 1.6% of Farallon Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Farallon Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $329,521,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth $37,000. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth $44,000. Hoese & Co LLP boosted its stake in Alphabet by 62.5% in the second quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 260 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at about $48,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $163.07 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. 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 twelve month low of $121.46 and a twelve month high of $193.31. The company’s fifty day moving average is $165.76 and its 200 day moving average is $167.46.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.22 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.44 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at $50,765,346. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other 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 value of $5,570,188.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,765,346. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.63, for a total value of $3,614,175.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,114,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $339,713,977.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 202,667 shares of company stock valued at $33,964,256. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, June 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.86.

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.