Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Shares Sold by Becker Capital Management Inc.

Becker Capital Management Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 6.2% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 24,763 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,623 shares during the quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,393,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 400.0% during the second quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Robbins Farley boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 60.0% in the 2nd quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 160 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 58.7% in the 2nd quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the period. University of Illinois Foundation purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Fairman Group LLC increased its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 954 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.00, for a total transaction of $302,418.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 11,740 shares in the company, valued at $3,721,580. This trade represents a 7.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.06, for a total transaction of $168,036.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 4,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,264,750.96. This represents a 11.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 228,906 shares of company stock worth $62,127,158 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.0%

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $321.00 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $328.67. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $281.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of $228.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.87 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.07.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. Truist Financial set a $350.00 price target on Alphabet in a research note on Friday, December 5th. BNP Paribas started coverage on Alphabet in a research report on Monday, November 24th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Raymond James Financial set a $275.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Finally, DA Davidson set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $310.54.

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.