Proffitt & Goodson Inc. Cuts Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Proffitt & Goodson Inc. lessened its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 14,548 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 152 shares during the period. Proffitt & Goodson Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,413,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 14.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 57,803,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,724,251,000 after buying an additional 7,275,757 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 49,472,478 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,011,412,000 after purchasing an additional 238,403 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 35,412,299 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,344,778,000 after purchasing an additional 597,756 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 23,465,190 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,274,184,000 after purchasing an additional 418,204 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its position in Alphabet by 9.1% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 23,263,385 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,237,426,000 after buying an additional 1,949,476 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. DA Davidson started coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $210.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 price target (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research raised their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.90.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total value of $429,587.55. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,182 shares in the company, valued at $4,421,948.46. This represents a 8.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.68, for a total value of $3,570,300.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,137,385 shares in the company, valued at $339,160,251.80. This represents a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 206,795 shares of company stock worth $34,673,866 in the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $164.76 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $167.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $170.36. The firm has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $127.90 and a 12 month high of $191.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.55 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

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.