Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Whetstone Capital Advisors LLC

Whetstone Capital Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 130,373 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,083 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 10.5% of Whetstone Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Whetstone Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $21,797,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 9.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 15,424,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,578,793,000 after acquiring an additional 1,291,274 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Alphabet by 4.5% during the second 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 during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.3% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 12,327,458 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,261,103,000 after buying an additional 282,121 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 2.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,843,149,000 after buying an additional 264,962 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 14.0% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 9,903,537 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,655,772,000 after buying an additional 1,218,671 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GOOG. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group upped their price objective 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. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total transaction of $75,437.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at $2,820,779.40. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total value of $3,975,075.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,061,806 shares in the company, valued at approximately $364,259,266.02. This trade represents a 1.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 206,795 shares of company stock worth $34,673,866. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.9 %

GOOG opened at $168.08 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.06 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $129.40 and a fifty-two week high of $193.31. The business has a 50-day moving average of $169.10 and a 200-day moving average of $171.87.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

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.