Stephens Inc. AR Trims Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Stephens Inc. AR cut its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 336,577 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,352 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 0.8% of Stephens Inc. AR’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $59,705,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOG. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 135,064,454 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the first quarter worth about $2,622,943,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 2.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,570,922 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $64,299,725,000 after buying an additional 9,687,855 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Alphabet by 9.9% during 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 buying an additional 9,243,959 shares during the period. Finally, Strs Ohio acquired a new position in Alphabet during the first quarter worth about $369,713,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total transaction of $680,610.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,236,785. The trade was a 13.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.50, for a total transaction of $8,108,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,397,392 shares in the company, valued at $598,149,304. The trade was a 1.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 246,150 shares of company stock valued at $55,805,379. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price target (up previously from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Phillip Securities downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $246.26.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.5%

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $252.53 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $235.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $194.81. The company has a market capitalization of $3.05 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.89, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.00. 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 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $257.88.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.67 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Alphabet

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.