Sterling Capital Management LLC Sells 44,442 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Sterling Capital Management LLC lowered its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 11.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 329,585 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 44,442 shares during the quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $58,465,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. IFS Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 400.0% during the second quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Robbins Farley raised its stake in Alphabet by 60.0% in the second quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 160 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. WestEnd Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 58.7% in the second quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Fairman Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 121.3% during the 2nd quarter. Fairman Group LLC now owns 177 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the period. Finally, Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on GOOG shares. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $340.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Mizuho set a $325.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $324.81.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 954 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.33, for a total value of $269,342.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 14,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,098,584.61. The trade was a 6.17% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total value of $4,408,034.72. Following the sale, the insider owned 42,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,635,348.70. The trade was a 29.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 222,396 shares of company stock valued at $54,105,275 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.0%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $279.70 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $251.81 and a 200-day moving average of $205.49. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $291.93. The stock has a market cap of $3.38 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.58, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 36.08%. The business had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.12 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 8.28%.

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.