The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Sells 77,586 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lowered its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,583,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 77,586 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $599,202,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOG. M&G PLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter valued at $2,240,000. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 5.3% in the second quarter. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $390,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 301,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $50,488,000 after buying an additional 4,292 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.2% during the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 63,545 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,624,000 after buying an additional 5,892 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.6% in the second quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 11,366 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,097,000 after buying an additional 498 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $169.43 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $129.40 and a fifty-two week high of $193.31. The company has a market cap of $2.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $169.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $171.85.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. Alphabet’s revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total transaction of $109,420.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,017 shares in the company, valued at $5,136,807.48. The trade was a 2.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $75,437.46. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at $2,820,779.40. This represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 206,795 shares of company stock worth $34,673,866 over the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on GOOG. Citigroup upped their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Pivotal Research boosted their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

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.