Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Sells 29,097 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 459,400 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 29,097 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 0.9% of Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $76,807,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 19.7% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 84,171,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,815,986,000 after buying an additional 13,876,534 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $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 valued at $13,355,724,000 after purchasing an additional 7,470,042 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 65.9% in 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. Finally, Vima LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 178,253.1% during the first quarter. Vima LLC now owns 2,001,122 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $304,691,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000,000 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GOOG. Pivotal Research lifted their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total transaction of $115,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 29,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,838,460. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total transaction of $115,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 29,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,838,460. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total value of $429,587.55. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,421,948.46. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 207,495 shares of company stock worth $34,586,641. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $180.49 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $129.40 and a twelve month high of $193.31. The stock has a market cap of $2.21 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company’s fifty day moving average is $165.75 and its 200-day moving average is $171.50.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share 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 period in the previous year, the company posted $1.55 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 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.