Saratoga Research & Investment Management Decreases Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Saratoga Research & Investment Management lessened its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 32.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,934 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,418 shares during the period. Saratoga Research & Investment Management’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $875,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 416,753,033 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $73,927,821,000 after purchasing an additional 5,182,111 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in Alphabet by 1.3% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 188,914,125 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $33,511,477,000 after buying an additional 2,428,266 shares during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 580,897.4% during the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 135,087,705 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $23,963,208,000 after buying an additional 135,064,454 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 0.4% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 107,760,033 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,022,926,000 after acquiring an additional 441,177 shares during the period. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 6.4% in the second quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 35,357,943 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,272,146,000 after acquiring an additional 2,117,990 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOG. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Alphabet from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, November 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $313.04.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.48, for a total value of $9,213,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,337,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $662,526,494.12. This trade represents a 1.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.05, for a total transaction of $694,638.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 14,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,629,725.80. The trade was a 16.06% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 225,528 shares of company stock valued at $61,296,884. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $310.52 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $328.67. The stock has a market cap of $3.75 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.07. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $283.75 and a 200-day moving average of $230.73.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.00% and a net margin of 32.23%.The business had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.12 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.28%.

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.