Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stake Decreased by Gateway Investment Advisers LLC

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC decreased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,420,835 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 45,287 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 3.0% of Gateway Investment Advisers LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $270,584,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Beck Bode LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 7.1% during the second quarter. Beck Bode LLC now owns 67,523 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,385,000 after buying an additional 4,456 shares in the last quarter. WCG Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 20.3% during the 2nd quarter. WCG Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 26,937 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,941,000 after acquiring an additional 4,539 shares in the last quarter. Concorde Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $218,000. Somerset Group LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Somerset Group LLC now owns 10,501 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,926,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 33.5% during the second quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC now owns 801 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $147,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $197.55 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $185.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $174.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $131.55 and a 1-year high of $202.88. The firm has a market cap of $2.42 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.20, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.99.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 last year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. Alphabet’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.36, for a total transaction of $3,990,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,084,306 shares in the company, valued at approximately $369,672,512.16. The trade was a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $550,702.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,847 shares in the company, valued at $3,468,029.04. The trade was a 13.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 133,387 shares of company stock valued at $24,368,654. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GOOG. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.56.

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.