Freedom Investment Management Inc. Trims Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Freedom Investment Management Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 13.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,327 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,110 shares during the period. Freedom Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,225,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. Quent Capital LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 32,706 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,980,000 after purchasing an additional 1,798 shares during the period. Beck Bode LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 23.5% during the 1st quarter. Beck Bode LLC now owns 63,067 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,603,000 after acquiring an additional 12,021 shares during the period. Redwood Grove Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. Redwood Grove Capital LLC now owns 102,400 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $15,591,000 after acquiring an additional 5,900 shares during the period. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 56.1% during the 1st quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,083 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $469,000 after acquiring an additional 1,108 shares during the period. Finally, Farallon Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 3,337,950 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $508,236,000 after acquiring an additional 199,410 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Alphabet in a report on Friday, October 11th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group upped their target price on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $170.82 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $169.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $171.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. 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 capitalization of $2.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total transaction of $3,442,233.45. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 39,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,307,206.90. This trade represents a 35.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was 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. This represents a 2.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,673,866 over the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.