Panagora Asset Management Inc. Increases Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,578,828 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 60,872 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.5% of Panagora Asset Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Panagora Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $289,589,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $8,232,000. GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 964.3% in the 4th quarter. GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC. now owns 482,698 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $68,027,000 after purchasing an additional 437,345 shares during the period. Gilbert & Cook Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 15.5% in the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 29,159 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,109,000 after purchasing an additional 3,924 shares during the period. Citizens Business Bank lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 32.1% in the 4th quarter. Citizens Business Bank now owns 7,528 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,061,000 after purchasing an additional 1,828 shares during the period. Finally, Bridgewater Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. now owns 29,986 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,226,000 after purchasing an additional 2,621 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total transaction of $3,772,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,159,885 shares in the company, valued at $362,126,319.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total transaction of $3,772,350.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,159,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $362,126,319.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.86, for a total transaction of $118,572.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,966 shares in the company, valued at $5,209,888.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 179,065 shares of company stock worth $31,025,543. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GOOG. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $182.86.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG traded up $0.94 during trading on Friday, hitting $164.34. The stock had a trading volume of 8,600,712 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,102,352. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $121.46 and a 12 month high of $193.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 2.08. The company has a market capitalization of $2.03 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.18, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.05. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $175.69 and a two-hundred day moving average of $165.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The firm had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.44 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

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.