Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Shares Sold by GoodHaven Capital Management LLC

GoodHaven Capital Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 21.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 132,640 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 35,985 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 8.2% of GoodHaven Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. GoodHaven Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $23,529,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,901,000 after acquiring an additional 6,410 shares during the period. Elios Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 7.1% in the 1st quarter. Elios Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,501 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $234,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Invictus Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Invictus Private Wealth LLC now owns 185,530 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $28,985,000 after purchasing an additional 2,180 shares during the period. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 8.3% during the 1st quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 21,969 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,413,000 after purchasing an additional 1,680 shares during the period. Finally, Howland Capital Management LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 15.9% during the 1st quarter. Howland Capital Management LLC now owns 43,752 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,835,000 after purchasing an additional 6,015 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GOOG. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. HSBC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $335.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Alphabet from $270.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Alphabet from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $304.62.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $319.95 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The business’s 50 day moving average is $269.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $219.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.86 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.55, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $328.67.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 36.08% and a net margin of 32.23%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.12 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.05, for a total value of $694,638.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 14,516 shares in the company, valued at $3,629,725.80. This trade represents a 16.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total transaction of $4,408,034.72. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 42,985 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,635,348.70. This represents a 29.30% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 227,850 shares of company stock worth $58,874,814 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.