Holocene Advisors LP Sells 861,252 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Holocene Advisors LP lessened its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 88.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 107,481 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 861,252 shares during the quarter. Holocene Advisors LP’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $17,826,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Lantz Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.8% during the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 4,622 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $842,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 27.7% in the second quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 67,487 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,293,000 after buying an additional 14,647 shares in the last quarter. Realta Investment Advisors grew its position in Alphabet by 5.7% during the second quarter. Realta Investment Advisors now owns 31,879 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,807,000 after acquiring an additional 1,730 shares during the last quarter. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 6,410.2% during the second quarter. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC now owns 109,566 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $18,488,000 after acquiring an additional 107,883 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northwest Investment Counselors LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% during the second quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC now owns 17,595 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,205,000 after acquiring an additional 590 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $206.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. DA Davidson assumed coverage on Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 price objective on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $206.08.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $189.82 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $129.68 and a twelve month high of $195.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a market capitalization of $2.32 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.18, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $171.63 and its 200 day moving average is $170.71.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.63, for a total transaction of $3,614,175.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,114,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $339,713,977.55. This represents a 1.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.84, for a total value of $230,804.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,927,257.72. The trade was a 4.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 198,623 shares of company stock worth $34,413,006. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

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.