Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Shares Sold by Becker Capital Management Inc.

Becker Capital Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 6.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 24,763 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,623 shares during the quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,393,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BNP Paribas grew its position in Alphabet by 6.4% during the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas now owns 433,193 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $76,918,000 after purchasing an additional 26,246 shares during the last quarter. Frisch Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.7% in the second quarter. Frisch Financial Group Inc. now owns 13,619 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,416,000 after buying an additional 363 shares during the last quarter. Dimension Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% in the second quarter. Dimension Capital Management LLC now owns 13,968 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,478,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Marathon Capital Management grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the second quarter. Marathon Capital Management now owns 44,738 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,936,000 after buying an additional 621 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Heritage Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.7% in the 2nd quarter. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. now owns 11,229 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,992,000 after acquiring an additional 990 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.0%

GOOG stock opened at $321.00 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $328.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $281.13 and its 200 day moving average is $228.37. The firm has a market cap of $3.87 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.12 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.28%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,272,119 shares in the company, valued at $725,942,020.50. This represents a 1.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.06, for a total value of $168,036.00. Following the sale, the director owned 4,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,264,750.96. This trade represents a 11.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 228,906 shares of company stock valued at $62,127,158 over the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Hsbc Global Res raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $300.00 to $345.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $310.54.

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.