Boston Partners Sells 2,650,397 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Boston Partners lowered its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 40.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,840,470 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,650,397 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 0.8% of Boston Partners’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Boston Partners’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $679,659,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 17.9% in the first quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 88,187 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,637,000 after purchasing an additional 13,371 shares during the period. Alaethes Wealth LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 1.1% during the first quarter. Alaethes Wealth LLC now owns 7,646 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,182,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the period. Moment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% during the 2nd quarter. Moment Partners LLC now owns 5,896 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,039,000 after buying an additional 504 shares in the last quarter. Welch Group LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 64,262 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,325,000 after buying an additional 2,467 shares during the period. Finally, Elgethun Capital Management increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. Elgethun Capital Management now owns 8,487 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,312,000 after acquiring an additional 390 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 3.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $299.66 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $306.42. The company has a market cap of $3.62 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.55, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $262.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $213.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. The business 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share 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 $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 currently 8.28%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 42,985 shares in the company, valued at $10,635,348.70. This represents a 29.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of Alphabet 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 14,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,629,725.80. This trade represents a 16.06% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 225,174 shares of company stock valued at $58,095,223 over the last three months. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $236.00 to $268.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $290.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Alphabet from $240.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Mizuho set a $325.00 price objective on Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $305.33.

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.