Portfolio Design Labs LLC Sells 40,304 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Portfolio Design Labs LLC cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 48.8% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 42,299 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 40,304 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 1.5% of Portfolio Design Labs LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Portfolio Design Labs LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,503,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,901,000 after acquiring an additional 6,410 shares in the last quarter. ING Groep NV boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% during the first quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 1,213,912 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $189,649,000 after purchasing an additional 103,608 shares in the last quarter. Empire Life Investments Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 2.2% in the first quarter. Empire Life Investments Inc. now owns 296,572 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $46,333,000 after purchasing an additional 6,348 shares during the period. Capstone Financial Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 7.2% in the first quarter. Capstone Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 2,322 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $363,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tiller Private Wealth Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 15.2% during the first quarter. Tiller Private Wealth Inc. now owns 2,987 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $467,000 after buying an additional 395 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on GOOG. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, November 24th. 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 research note on Thursday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $330.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. DA Davidson set a $300.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Pivotal Research upped their price target on Alphabet from $300.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $307.22.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.05, for a total value of $694,638.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 14,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,629,725.80. The trade was a 16.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.15, for a total transaction of $8,129,875.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,369,619 shares in the company, valued at $592,760,192.85. This represents a 1.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 227,850 shares of company stock worth $58,874,814 over the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.6%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $315.12 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $271.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $221.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.80 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $328.67. 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 quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 36.08%. The company had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.12 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.28%.

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.