AustralianSuper Pty Ltd Lowers Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd cut its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 8.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 52,071 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 4,859 shares during the period. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,706,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the second quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,985 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,465,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. PCG Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% during the second quarter. PCG Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,880 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $345,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.6% in the second quarter. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV now owns 3,636 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $667,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV increased its holdings in Alphabet by 2.0% in the second quarter. Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV now owns 2,944 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $540,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Finally, Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 11.1% in the first quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC now owns 600 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $91,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.84, for a total value of $230,804.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,927,257.72. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.84, for a total transaction of $230,804.28. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,927,257.72. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,765,346. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 219,744 shares of company stock worth $35,878,764. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Alphabet in a research report on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price objective for the company. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wolfe Research raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.56.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $172.69 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $123.93 and a twelve month high of $193.31. The company has a market capitalization of $2.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.04. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $163.71 and a 200 day moving average of $170.32. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The firm’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

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.