Olstein Capital Management L.P. Purchases 7,000 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Olstein Capital Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 23.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 37,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,000 shares during the period. Olstein Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,186,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 19.7% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 84,171,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,815,986,000 after buying an additional 13,876,534 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,378,708,000. Capital International Investors raised its position in Alphabet by 9.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,716,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,355,724,000 after purchasing an additional 7,470,042 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Alphabet by 65.9% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Alphabet by 51.8% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,416,150 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $976,923,000 after purchasing an additional 2,190,795 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on GOOG. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $182.28 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $164.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $170.89. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $129.40 and a 1-year high of $193.31. 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 $2.24 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.18, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.55 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued 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 0.44%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.03, for a total value of $130,424.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 30,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,894,812.72. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total value of $3,772,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,159,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $362,126,319.10. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.03, for a total transaction of $130,424.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,894,812.72. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 242,552 shares of company stock valued at $40,287,253. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Company 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.