Westfield Capital Management Co. LP Reduces Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Westfield Capital Management Co. LP decreased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 8.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 56,758 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 5,527 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,068,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. PKS Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% during the second quarter. PKS Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,101 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,260,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. GDS Wealth Management boosted its stake in Alphabet by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. GDS Wealth Management now owns 2,325 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $412,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc grew its position in Alphabet by 8.6% during the 2nd quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 3,882,633 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $688,740,000 after purchasing an additional 306,204 shares during the last quarter. Forge First Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 55.7% during the 2nd quarter. Forge First Asset Management Inc. now owns 35,800 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,349,000 after purchasing an additional 12,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Saturna Capital Corp increased its stake in Alphabet by 12.5% in the second quarter. Saturna Capital Corp now owns 1,951 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $346,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.0%

Alphabet stock opened at $289.98 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $261.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $212.97. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.66 and a 1-year high of $306.89. The company has a market cap of $3.50 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90.

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 return on equity of 36.08% and a net margin of 32.23%.The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.12 earnings per share. Alphabet’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Scotiabank set a $336.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Alphabet from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $324.81.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.26, for a total transaction of $800,786.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 11,739 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,383,884.14. This trade represents a 19.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.06, for a total value of $168,036.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 4,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,264,750.96. This represents a 11.73% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 195,452 shares of company stock worth $49,255,209 over the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.