Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Shares Sold by Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A.

Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. lowered its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 15.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 170,424 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 30,330 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 2.3% of Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $41,507,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,901,000 after buying an additional 6,410 shares during the last quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 25,146 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,929,000 after acquiring an additional 976 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 411.1% during the 1st quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 13,028 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,035,000 after acquiring an additional 10,479 shares in the last quarter. JT Stratford LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. JT Stratford LLC now owns 3,357 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $524,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Heritage Financial Services LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 17.8% in the 1st quarter. Heritage Financial Services LLC now owns 5,754 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $899,000 after purchasing an additional 870 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Trading Down 3.1%

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $298.06 on Thursday. 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 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $287.17 and its 200-day moving average is $233.11. The firm has a market cap of $3.60 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) 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 35.00%. The business had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.12 earnings per share. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.28%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GOOG. BNP Paribas started coverage on Alphabet in a research note on Monday, November 24th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $300.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $375.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $285.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Alphabet from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $313.04.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.30, for a total transaction of $867,569.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 8,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,798,832.60. This trade represents a 23.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $308.19, for a total transaction of $184,914.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,916 shares in the company, valued at $1,206,872.04. The trade was a 13.29% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 228,906 shares of company stock worth $63,984,117. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.