Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Sarasin & Partners LLP

Sarasin & Partners LLP decreased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 105,298 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,151 shares during the period. Sarasin & Partners LLP’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $20,053,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $33,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 9,200.0% in the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 87.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Alphabet in a report on Friday, October 11th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price objective on the stock. Pivotal Research increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. 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 report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six 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 stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $199.63 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $186.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $174.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The company has a market cap of $2.44 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.99. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $131.55 and a 12 month high of $203.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.55 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a $0.20 dividend. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.61%.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $550,702.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,847 shares in the company, valued at $3,468,029.04. This represents a 13.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 133,387 shares of company stock valued at $24,368,654 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.