Olstein Capital Management L.P. Cuts Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Olstein Capital Management L.P. lowered its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 24.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 9,000 shares during the period. Olstein Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,332,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 114,802,133 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,193,768,000 after buying an additional 5,655,022 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 33,334,082 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,573,125,000 after acquiring an additional 3,113,395 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 2,500,621 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 182.1% in the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 2,526,055 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $422,331,000 after purchasing an additional 1,630,701 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.1% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 15,424,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,578,793,000 after purchasing an additional 1,291,274 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $193.64 on Tuesday. 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 12 month low of $131.55 and a 12 month high of $203.84. The company has a market cap of $2.37 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.99. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $187.95 and its 200-day moving average is $175.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.55 earnings per share. Alphabet’s revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.13.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total transaction of $559,856.70. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,085,531.55. The trade was a 12.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total transaction of $75,437.46. Following the sale, the director now owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at $2,820,779.40. This represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.