Boston Partners Reduces Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Boston Partners decreased its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 40.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 3,850,215 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,640,652 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 0.8% of Boston Partners’ portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Boston Partners’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $681,376,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at about $4,317,606,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17,667.7% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,245,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,686,640,000 after purchasing an additional 15,159,273 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $78,839,544,000 after purchasing an additional 14,307,345 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 51.7% during the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 31,817,684 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,607,232,000 after purchasing an additional 10,843,853 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 4,473,901 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.50, for a total transaction of $10,383,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,272,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $725,942,020.50. This represents a 1.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.06, for a total transaction of $168,036.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 4,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,264,750.96. This trade represents a 11.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 226,128 shares of company stock valued at $61,326,372. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.1%

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $321.27 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.88 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.68, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $328.83. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $276.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $224.51.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. The business had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. HSBC boosted their target price on Alphabet from $335.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $260.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $224.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, President Capital boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $258.00 to $323.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $312.65.

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.