Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ Decreases Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.7% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,433,938 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 39,080 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 1.1% of Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $254,309,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 1.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 416,753,033 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $73,927,821,000 after buying an additional 5,182,111 shares during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 580,897.4% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 135,087,705 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $23,963,208,000 after purchasing an additional 135,064,454 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 107,760,033 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,022,926,000 after purchasing an additional 441,177 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.9% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 102,232,997 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $15,971,861,000 after purchasing an additional 9,243,959 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.4% in the second quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 35,357,943 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,272,146,000 after buying an additional 2,117,990 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Pivotal Research increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $300.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $304.62.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total value of $4,408,034.72. Following the transaction, the insider owned 42,985 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,635,348.70. This represents a 29.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,369,619 shares in the company, valued at approximately $592,760,192.85. The trade was a 1.35% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 227,850 shares of company stock valued at $58,874,814. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $320.28 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $268.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $218.44. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $328.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.86 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.59, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued 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. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 36.08% and a net margin of 32.23%.The company’s revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.12 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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