Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by Lord Abbett & CO. LLC

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC decreased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 12.8% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,643,889 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 387,594 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 1.4% of Lord Abbett & CO. LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest position. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $438,489,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 75.0% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. LMR Partners LLP bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at $36,000. Denver PWM LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at $53,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on GOOGL. Loop Capital lifted their target price on Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Alphabet from $206.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $204.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Pivotal Research boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $206.69.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,329,576.64. The trade was a 11.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total transaction of $559,856.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares in the company, valued at $4,085,531.55. The trade was a 12.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 178,957 shares of company stock valued at $31,358,687. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL opened at $191.41 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.39, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $130.66 and a 1 year high of $201.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $174.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $171.33.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

About Alphabet

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.