AQR Capital Management LLC Cuts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

AQR Capital Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 5.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,108,391 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 195,359 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 0.5% of AQR Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. AQR Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $551,397,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,901,000 after acquiring an additional 6,410 shares during the last quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% during the first quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 25,146 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,929,000 after buying an additional 976 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its holdings in Alphabet by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 18,582 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,903,000 after buying an additional 1,292 shares in the last quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 49.0% in the 1st quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 23,889 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,732,000 after buying an additional 7,856 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fox Run Management L.L.C. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 31.4% during the 1st quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. now owns 4,961 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $775,000 after acquiring an additional 1,185 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GOOG. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Mizuho set a $325.00 price objective on Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $313.04.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $310.52 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.75 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.62, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.07. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $328.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $283.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $229.94.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released 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 firm had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.12 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current 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 is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.28%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.66, for a total value of $32,401.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 18,104 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,750,916.64. The trade was a 0.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 954 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.00, for a total value of $302,418.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 11,740 shares in the company, valued at $3,721,580. This represents a 7.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 228,906 shares of company stock valued at $62,127,158. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.