Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Cuts Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich trimmed its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 10.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 158,742 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 18,604 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $28,159,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased 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 purchasing an additional 6,410 shares during the period. GW&K Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 3.9% in the first quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 4,169 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $651,000 after buying an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth approximately $522,000. Burney Co. raised its position in Alphabet by 11.4% during the 1st quarter. Burney Co. now owns 13,414 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,096,000 after buying an additional 1,374 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Noesis Capital Mangement Corp lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Noesis Capital Mangement Corp now owns 181,534 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $28,361,000 after acquiring an additional 2,073 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.05, for a total transaction of $694,638.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 14,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,629,725.80. This represents a 16.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total transaction of $4,408,034.72. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,985 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,635,348.70. The trade was a 29.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 195,452 shares of company stock valued at $49,255,209 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.0%

GOOG stock opened at $289.98 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $261.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $212.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $306.89. The firm has a market cap of $3.50 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.60, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities set a $279.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $330.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Alphabet from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $324.81.

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.