Denali Advisors LLC Trims Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Denali Advisors LLC cut its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 17.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,600 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,200 shares during the quarter. Denali Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $987,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $78,839,544,000 after acquiring an additional 14,307,345 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 11.4% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 43,865,520 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,783,364,000 after acquiring an additional 4,473,901 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 43,648,514 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,749,806,000 after acquiring an additional 593,345 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 39,792,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,153,481,000 after acquiring an additional 727,335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 38,556,577 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,962,389,000 after acquiring an additional 104,859 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on Alphabet from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Roth Capital upped their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $290.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $333.00 target price on Alphabet in a research note on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $302.20.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.05, for a total transaction of $694,638.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 14,516 shares in the company, valued at $3,629,725.80. This represents a 16.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 103 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.13, for a total value of $25,042.39. Following the sale, the director owned 17,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,202,258.92. This represents a 0.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 246,150 shares of company stock worth $55,805,379 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL opened at $281.31 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $244.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $199.98. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $291.59. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $3.40 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.74, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 36.08% and a net margin of 32.23%. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.