HighVista Strategies LLC Decreases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

HighVista Strategies LLC decreased its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 7.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,436 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 900 shares during the period. HighVista Strategies LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,098,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GOOG. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of 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 last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Alphabet by 19.7% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 84,171,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,815,986,000 after acquiring an additional 13,876,534 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.2% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 45,731,826 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,963,128,000 after purchasing an additional 979,083 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in Alphabet by 2.0% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 35,558,778 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,414,179,000 after purchasing an additional 684,968 shares during the period. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 28,558,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,024,679,000 after purchasing an additional 813,428 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $164.64 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $121.46 and a twelve month high of $193.31. The stock has a market cap of $2.03 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.25, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $166.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $167.26.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on GOOG shares. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. TD Cowen increased their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. DA Davidson upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.86.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the 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 directly 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 is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total value of $125,126.54. Following the completion of 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,227,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $415,941,874.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 202,667 shares of company stock valued at $33,964,256. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Company 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.