Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC lessened its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 228,952 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 3,266 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.8% of Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $38,278,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,716,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,355,724,000 after purchasing an additional 7,470,042 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 19.7% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 84,171,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,815,986,000 after buying an additional 13,876,534 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Alphabet by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 45,731,826 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,963,128,000 after purchasing an additional 979,083 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in Alphabet by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 35,558,778 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,414,179,000 after purchasing an additional 684,968 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Alphabet by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 14,657,421 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,688,743,000 after purchasing an additional 636,008 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total value of $5,570,188.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at $50,765,346. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.84, for a total transaction of $230,804.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,927,257.72. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total value of $5,570,188.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,765,346. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 216,092 shares of company stock worth $35,644,136 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group decreased their target price on Alphabet from $204.00 to $187.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 7th. TD Cowen raised their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. DA Davidson raised Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $186.90.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of GOOG opened at $164.52 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $121.46 and a 12-month high of $193.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.03 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $162.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $169.25. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.22 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The company’s revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.44 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.27%.

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.