GAM Holding AG Lowers Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

GAM Holding AG trimmed its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 9.5% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 290,420 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 30,496 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 3.6% of GAM Holding AG’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. GAM Holding AG’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $51,181,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 2.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $78,839,544,000 after buying an additional 14,307,345 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 11.4% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 43,865,520 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,783,364,000 after acquiring an additional 4,473,901 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 43,648,514 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,749,806,000 after acquiring an additional 593,345 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in Alphabet by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 39,792,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,153,481,000 after acquiring an additional 727,335 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 38,556,577 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,962,389,000 after purchasing an additional 104,859 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, October 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.92, for a total transaction of $145,752.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 5,116 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,242,778.72. The trade was a 10.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.48, for a total value of $9,213,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,337,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $662,526,494.12. This represents a 1.37% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 221,796 shares of company stock valued at $53,983,001 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $286.71 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $292.01. The business’s fifty day moving average is $255.49 and its 200 day moving average is $207.29. 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:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a return on equity of 36.08% and a net margin of 32.23%.The business had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.28%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GOOGL. Roth Capital lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Citizens Jmp boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $250.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Alphabet from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $304.10.

Alphabet Company 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.