Caprock Group LLC Sells 3,351 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Caprock Group LLC trimmed its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 192,538 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 3,351 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 1.2% of Caprock Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Caprock Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $32,191,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% in the first 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. Capital World Investors boosted its position in Alphabet by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 45,731,826 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,963,128,000 after buying an additional 979,083 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in Alphabet by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 35,558,778 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,414,179,000 after acquiring an additional 684,968 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 14,657,421 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,688,743,000 after acquiring an additional 636,008 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 12,327,458 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,261,103,000 after acquiring an additional 282,121 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays upped their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Scotiabank started 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. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total value of $3,772,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,159,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $362,126,319.10. This represents a 1.03 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total transaction of $429,587.55. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,421,948.46. The trade was a 8.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 206,795 shares of company stock worth $34,471,141. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.7 %

Alphabet stock opened at $176.80 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.16 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $129.40 and a 12 month high of $193.31. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $167.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $171.80. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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.