DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Cuts Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale decreased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 10.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,717,625 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 199,452 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 0.6% of DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $320,951,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Alphabet by 9.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,716,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,355,724,000 after buying an additional 7,470,042 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 19.7% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 84,171,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,815,986,000 after acquiring an additional 13,876,534 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 45,731,826 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,963,128,000 after acquiring an additional 979,083 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 35,558,778 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,414,179,000 after acquiring an additional 684,968 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $4,101,040,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wolfe Research raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, June 28th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $182.86.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.74, for a total value of $4,201,650.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,227,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $415,941,874.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.74, for a total transaction of $4,201,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,227,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $415,941,874.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total value of $600,175.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9 shares in the company, valued at $1,655.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 201,867 shares of company stock worth $34,218,581 over the last quarter. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.8 %

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $158.37 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $121.46 and a one year high of $193.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.08. The company has a market capitalization of $1.95 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $169.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $166.15.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.22 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. Alphabet’s revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.44 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

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.