Sustainable Growth Advisers LP Decreases Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Sustainable Growth Advisers LP cut its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 7.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 11,021 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 950 shares during the period. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,942,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Gimbal Financial raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% in the second quarter. Gimbal Financial now owns 2,776 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $489,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co grew its stake in Alphabet by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co now owns 16,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,981,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Silver Coast Investments LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Silver Coast Investments LLC now owns 4,317 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $761,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 6,477 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,141,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bfsg LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 10,428 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,838,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. CICC Research upped their price target on Alphabet from $240.00 to $303.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $350.00 price objective (up previously from $290.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Alphabet from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $330.00 price target (up previously from $285.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $240.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $307.84.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $319.95 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The firm has a market cap of $3.86 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $267.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $217.64. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $328.83.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a return on equity of 36.08% and a net margin of 32.23%.The company had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.28%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.15, for a total value of $8,129,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,369,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $592,760,192.85. This trade represents a 1.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.05, for a total transaction of $694,638.90. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 14,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,629,725.80. The trade was a 16.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 225,072 shares of company stock worth $58,074,027 in the last three months. 11.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.