Westpac Banking Corp Reduces Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Westpac Banking Corp cut its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 11.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 47,473 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 5,891 shares during the period. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,421,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GOOG. IFS Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 400.0% in the 2nd quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the period. Robbins Farley increased its stake in Alphabet by 60.0% during the 2nd quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 160 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC raised 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 lifted its position in Alphabet by 121.3% during the second quarter. Fairman Group LLC now owns 177 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, 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 transaction of $4,408,034.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 42,985 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,635,348.70. The trade was a 29.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.15, for a total transaction of $8,129,875.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,369,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $592,760,192.85. This represents a 1.35% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 221,796 shares of company stock valued at $53,983,001. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock traded up $16.26 on Monday, hitting $293.24. The company had a trading volume of 7,185,780 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,215,221. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $293.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The company has a market cap of $3.54 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.94, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $257.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $210.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.12 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. DA Davidson set a $825.00 price target on Alphabet in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $340.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald set a $310.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $324.81.

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.