Mawer Investment Management Ltd. Cuts Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Mawer Investment Management Ltd. trimmed its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 6,076,517 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 309,362 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 4.6% of Mawer Investment Management Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. owned about 0.05% of Alphabet worth $949,334,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Concentrum Wealth Management grew its position in Alphabet by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 17,328 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,300,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 593 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $113,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Kidder Stephen W grew its position in Alphabet by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Kidder Stephen W now owns 3,608 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $687,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Objectivity Squared LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 0.4% during the first quarter. Objectivity Squared LLC now owns 16,342 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,605,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tranquility Partners LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 0.4% during the first quarter. Tranquility Partners LLC now owns 14,488 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,263,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at $456,991,919.84. The trade was a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 249,409 shares of company stock worth $43,523,710 over the last three months. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $193.42 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $208.70. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $177.37 and a 200 day moving average of $174.38. The company has a market capitalization of $2.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.60, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 8.95%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on GOOG shares. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $235.00 price target (up from $220.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price target (up from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Barclays reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $215.19.

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.