Rathbones Group PLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Rathbones Group PLC lessened its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,995,782 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 72,508 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.5% of Rathbones Group PLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Rathbones Group PLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $354,032,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. RDA Financial Network grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.3% during the second quarter. RDA Financial Network now owns 11,094 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,968,000 after buying an additional 554 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 170,020 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $30,160,000 after acquiring an additional 2,304 shares during the period. Oldfather Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at $213,000. Tower View Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 6.9% in the second quarter. Tower View Wealth Management LLC now owns 27,644 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,904,000 after purchasing an additional 1,776 shares during the period. Finally, Dock Street Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the second quarter. Dock Street Asset Management Inc. now owns 234,306 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $41,563,000 after purchasing an additional 1,970 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total transaction of $680,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 17,293 shares in the company, valued at $4,236,785. The trade was a 13.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total transaction of $4,408,034.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 42,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,635,348.70. This trade represents a 29.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 222,396 shares of company stock valued at $54,105,275 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.0%

GOOG opened at $279.70 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market cap of $3.38 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.58, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $291.93. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $251.81 and a 200-day moving average price of $205.83.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. The company had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 36.08% and a net margin of 32.23%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.12 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 8.28%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on GOOG. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $330.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Mizuho set a $325.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Alphabet from $285.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Scotiabank set a $336.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $324.81.

About Alphabet

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.