Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Reduces Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC decreased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 24.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 289,387 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 95,393 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.2% of Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings, making the stock its 10th largest position. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $70,350,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at $21,944,208,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 17,667.7% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,245,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,686,640,000 after purchasing an additional 15,159,273 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 51.7% during the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 31,817,684 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,607,232,000 after buying an additional 10,843,853 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 516,559,609 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $91,033,300,000 after buying an additional 6,733,278 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 201.3% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,547,250 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,153,824,000 after buying an additional 4,374,542 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.1%

GOOGL opened at $314.06 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.97, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $293.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $237.26. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $328.83.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. Citic Securities upped their price target on Alphabet from $230.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Loop Capital upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $260.00 to $320.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $333.00 target price on Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $260.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $350.00 price objective (up previously from $290.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $315.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $308.19, for a total value of $184,914.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,206,872.04. The trade was a 13.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.30, for a total value of $867,569.40. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 8,962 shares in the company, valued at $2,798,832.60. The trade was a 23.66% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 226,128 shares of company stock valued at $63,183,331. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc is the holding company created in 2015 to organize Google and a portfolio of businesses developing technologies beyond Google’s core internet services. Its principal operations are led by Google, which builds and operates consumer-facing products such as Google Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Gmail, Google Maps and Google Workspace, as well as advertising platforms (Google Ads and AdSense) that historically generate the majority of its revenue. Google also develops consumer hardware (Pixel phones, Nest smart-home devices, Chromecast) and developer and distribution platforms such as Google Play.

Beyond Google’s consumer and advertising businesses, Alphabet invests in enterprise and infrastructure offerings through Google Cloud, which provides cloud computing, data analytics and productivity services to businesses and institutions.