Congress Asset Management Co. Cuts Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Congress Asset Management Co. cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 76,958 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,235 shares during the quarter. Congress Asset Management Co.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $14,656,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. FMR LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 5.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 114,802,133 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,193,768,000 after acquiring an additional 5,655,022 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 103,557,486 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $17,247,208,000 after purchasing an additional 259,213 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.3% in the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 3,113,395 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 9.1% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 15,424,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,578,793,000 after purchasing an additional 1,291,274 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 2.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,843,149,000 after purchasing an additional 264,962 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,329,576.64. The trade was a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total transaction of $232,950.47. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,007,191.15. This represents a 5.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 67,029 shares of company stock valued at $12,625,003 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the topic of several research reports. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $185.67 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business has a 50-day moving average of $194.56 and a 200-day moving average of $176.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.07, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $131.55 and a 12 month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

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.