Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Boston Common Asset Management LLC

Boston Common Asset Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 164,312 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,627 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 0.9% of Boston Common Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. Boston Common Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $31,292,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 114,802,133 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,193,768,000 after purchasing an additional 5,655,022 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.3% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 33,334,082 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,573,125,000 after purchasing an additional 3,113,395 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 65.9% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 6,294,332 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,052,349,000 after purchasing an additional 2,500,621 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 182.1% during the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 2,526,055 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $422,331,000 after purchasing an additional 1,630,701 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.1% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 15,424,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,578,793,000 after purchasing an additional 1,291,274 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $550,702.88. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,468,029.04. This trade represents a 13.70 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.36, for a total value of $3,990,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,084,306 shares in the company, valued at $369,672,512.16. This represents a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 133,387 shares of company stock valued at $24,368,654 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Alphabet in a report on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 target price for the company. UBS Group upped their target price on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Citizens Jmp cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Pivotal Research upped their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.56.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG opened at $197.55 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $185.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $174.93. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $131.55 and a 12-month high of $202.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market cap of $2.42 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.20, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.99.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.55 EPS. Alphabet’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

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.