Alphabet Inc. $GOOG is HF Advisory Group LLC’s 4th Largest Position

HF Advisory Group LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 7.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 25,576 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,058 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 2.3% of HF Advisory Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. HF Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,229,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,901,000 after purchasing an additional 6,410 shares in the last quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 25,146 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,929,000 after buying an additional 976 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its position in Alphabet by 411.1% during the 1st quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 13,028 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,035,000 after acquiring an additional 10,479 shares in the last quarter. JT Stratford LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. JT Stratford LLC now owns 3,357 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $524,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Heritage Financial Services LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 17.8% in the 1st quarter. Heritage Financial Services LLC now owns 5,754 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $899,000 after acquiring an additional 870 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 3.1%

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $298.06 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $328.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The company has a market capitalization of $3.60 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.07. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $287.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $233.11.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.12 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 8.28%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.66, for a total transaction of $32,401.32. Following the sale, the director directly owned 18,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,750,916.64. This represents a 0.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $299.80, for a total transaction of $9,743,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,239,619 shares in the company, valued at approximately $671,437,776.20. The trade was a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 228,906 shares of company stock valued at $63,984,117. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BNP Paribas began coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, November 24th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $340.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $313.04.

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.