Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC Has $369,000 Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC cut its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 15.3% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,210 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 400 shares during the period. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $369,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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 during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,378,708,000. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,716,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,355,724,000 after buying an additional 7,470,042 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Alphabet by 65.9% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 6,294,332 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,052,349,000 after buying an additional 2,500,621 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Alphabet by 51.8% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,416,150 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $976,923,000 after acquiring an additional 2,190,795 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of GOOG opened at $172.65 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $128.11 and a twelve month high of $193.31. The stock has a market cap of $2.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $163.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $170.43.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. Alphabet’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.83 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 given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total transaction of $1,898,190.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 330,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $59,741,643.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total value of $1,898,190.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 330,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,741,643.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total transaction of $429,587.55. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,182 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,421,948.46. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 230,244 shares of company stock worth $37,776,954 over the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Pivotal Research raised their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Scotiabank started coverage on Alphabet in a report on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 target price on the stock. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

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.