Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Purchased by HighVista Strategies LLC

HighVista Strategies LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 9.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,536 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the period. HighVista Strategies LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,096,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 114,802,133 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,193,768,000 after purchasing an additional 5,655,022 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 10.3% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 33,334,082 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,573,125,000 after buying an additional 3,113,395 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 65.9% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 6,294,332 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,052,349,000 after acquiring an additional 2,500,621 shares during the last quarter. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6,610.0% in the 2nd quarter. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,769,160 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $301,312,000 after acquiring an additional 1,742,794 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 27.8% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 7,499,245 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,375,512,000 after purchasing an additional 1,632,691 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.68, for a total transaction of $3,570,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,137,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $339,160,251.80. This trade represents a 1.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total transaction of $1,898,190.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 330,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,741,643.48. The trade was a 3.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 186,124 shares of company stock valued at $31,374,030 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $172.98 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $129.40 and a 52-week high of $193.31. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $169.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $171.82. The company has a market capitalization of $2.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on GOOG. Pivotal Research upped their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price target on the stock. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.56.

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.