Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Lowers Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P cut its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 15.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,918,961 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 737,793 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 80.6% of Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $746,327,000 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. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Down 3.3 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $167.14 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $148.20 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The company has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $182.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $178.36.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on GOOG. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total transaction of $238,347.78. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,606,213.28. The trade was a 8.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 93,048 shares of company stock valued at $17,374,274 over the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet 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.