Primecap Management Co. CA Lowers Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Primecap Management Co. CA cut its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.1% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 12,392,730 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 135,210 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 1.5% of Primecap Management Co. CA’s holdings, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Primecap Management Co. CA’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,071,941,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOG. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at $1,378,708,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 65.9% in 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 in the last quarter. Vima LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 178,253.1% during the first quarter. Vima LLC now owns 2,001,122 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $304,691,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000,000 shares during the last quarter. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 6,610.0% during the 2nd quarter. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,769,160 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $301,312,000 after acquiring an additional 1,742,794 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its holdings in Alphabet by 27.8% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 7,499,245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,375,512,000 after acquiring an additional 1,632,691 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.68, for a total value of $3,570,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,137,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $339,160,251.80. This represents a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total transaction of $109,420.08. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,136,807.48. The trade was a 2.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 184,295 shares of company stock valued at $30,698,791 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $177.33 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $2.17 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.52, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $129.40 and a fifty-two week high of $193.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $168.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $171.91.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Citigroup boosted their target price on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, 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 report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.56.

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.