Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Shares Sold by Rathbones Group PLC

Rathbones Group PLC lowered its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,995,782 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 72,508 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 1.5% of Rathbones Group PLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Rathbones Group PLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $354,032,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. IFS Advisors LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 400.0% during the 2nd quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the period. Robbins Farley raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 60.0% in the second quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 160 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 58.7% in the second quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Fairman Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 121.3% during the second quarter. Fairman Group LLC now owns 177 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the period. Finally, Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on GOOG shares. Pivotal Research raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $300.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $285.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $330.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Wolfe Research lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $290.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $324.81.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total transaction of $4,408,034.72. Following the transaction, the insider owned 42,985 shares in the company, valued at $10,635,348.70. This trade represents a 29.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total transaction of $680,610.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,236,785. The trade was a 13.84% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 222,396 shares of company stock valued at $54,105,275 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.0%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $279.70 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $251.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $205.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $291.93. The company has a market cap of $3.38 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 36.08% and a net margin of 32.23%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.12 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 8.28%.

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.