Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by Davis Selected Advisers

Davis Selected Advisers cut its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 6.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,854,413 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 185,070 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 2.7% of Davis Selected Advisers’ portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Davis Selected Advisers’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $503,033,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 17.9% in the 1st quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 88,187 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,637,000 after purchasing an additional 13,371 shares during the last quarter. Alaethes Wealth LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.1% in the first quarter. Alaethes Wealth LLC now owns 7,646 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,182,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the period. Moment Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% in the second 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 during the last quarter. Welch Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% during the second 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 boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.8% during the first quarter. Elgethun Capital Management now owns 8,487 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,312,000 after buying an additional 390 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. CIBC boosted their price target on Alphabet to $315.00 in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Alphabet from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $300.00 target price (up previously from $265.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, October 27th. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on Alphabet in a research note on Monday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $355.00 price target for the company. Finally, New Street Research lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $275.00 to $295.00 in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $307.84.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.80, for a total value of $32,681.60. Following the sale, the director owned 18,004 shares in the company, valued at $5,253,567.20. This represents a 0.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.26, for a total value of $800,786.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 11,739 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,383,884.14. The trade was a 19.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 225,072 shares of company stock worth $58,074,027. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $319.95 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $266.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $216.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market cap of $3.86 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $328.83.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 EPS 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 analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 36.08%. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 8.28%.

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.