Magellan Asset Management Ltd Sells 334,832 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Magellan Asset Management Ltd cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 34.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 623,541 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 334,832 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 1.3% of Magellan Asset Management Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Magellan Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $110,610,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. RDA Financial Network lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. RDA Financial Network now owns 11,094 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,968,000 after buying an additional 554 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in the second quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 170,020 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $30,160,000 after acquiring an additional 2,304 shares during the period. Oldfather Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the second quarter valued at $213,000. Tower View Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 6.9% in the second quarter. Tower View Wealth Management LLC now owns 27,644 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,904,000 after acquiring an additional 1,776 shares during the period. Finally, Dock Street Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 0.8% in the second quarter. Dock Street Asset Management Inc. now owns 234,306 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $41,563,000 after purchasing an additional 1,970 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. Rosenblatt Securities set a $279.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. HSBC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $335.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. DA Davidson set a $825.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, October 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Alphabet from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald set a $310.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $324.81.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total transaction of $4,408,034.72. Following the sale, the insider owned 42,985 shares in the company, valued at $10,635,348.70. This trade represents a 29.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total transaction of $680,610.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 17,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,236,785. This represents a 13.84% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 222,396 shares of company stock valued at $54,105,275. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 2.0%

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $279.70 on Monday. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $291.93. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $251.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $205.83. The company has a market capitalization of $3.38 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.58, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. The business had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 36.08% and a net margin of 32.23%.Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.12 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Monday, December 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.28%.

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.