Confluence Investment Management LLC Reduces Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Confluence Investment Management LLC decreased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 29.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 292,864 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 123,960 shares during the quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $48,964,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 360.1% in the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 20,249 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,083,000 after acquiring an additional 15,848 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 32,706 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,980,000 after purchasing an additional 1,798 shares in the last quarter. TFB Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 48.2% in the 1st quarter. TFB Advisors LLC now owns 8,123 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,345,000 after purchasing an additional 2,643 shares in the last quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 51.1% during the first quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC now owns 20,649 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,144,000 after purchasing an additional 6,986 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clarity Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 14.2% in the first quarter. Clarity Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,355 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $359,000 after buying an additional 292 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group increased their target price on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 target price for the company. 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 research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.41, for a total transaction of $1,862,805.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 319,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,765,168.06. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, 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 transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,765,346. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.41, for a total transaction of $1,862,805.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 319,966 shares in the company, valued at $56,765,168.06. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 242,552 shares of company stock worth $40,287,253 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.2 %

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $182.28 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.24 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.18, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $129.40 and a 1 year high of $193.31. The business has a fifty day moving average of $164.24 and a 200-day moving average of $170.89.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during 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% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 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.