Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by First Eagle Investment Management LLC

First Eagle Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,697,335 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 32,204 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 2.7% of First Eagle Investment Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. First Eagle Investment Management LLC owned 0.05% of Alphabet worth $1,228,425,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at about $37,000. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Hoese & Co LLP increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 62.5% during the 2nd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 260 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $48,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.3 %

GOOG opened at $160.81 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $121.46 and a 12 month high of $193.31. The business has a 50-day moving average of $167.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $166.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 2.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.99 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.44 earnings per share. Alphabet’s revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.27%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total transaction of $125,126.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 30,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,623,355.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total value of $125,126.54. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 30,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,623,355.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.75, for a total transaction of $123,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 28,524 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,385,565. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 202,667 shares of company stock worth $33,964,256 over the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on GOOG. DA Davidson upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.86.

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.