TCW Group Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

TCW Group Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.1% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,284,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 26,362 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 3.3% of TCW Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. TCW Group Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $381,917,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 9,200.0% during the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter worth $37,000. Finally, HWG Holdings LP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter worth $40,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.75, for a total transaction of $123,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 28,524 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,385,565. This trade represents a 2.73 % 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 1,367 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.84, for a total value of $230,804.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,183 shares in the company, valued at $4,927,257.72. This trade represents a 4.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 197,923 shares of company stock valued at $34,244,676. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 5.3 %

Shares of GOOG opened at $186.53 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $131.06 and a 1-year high of $193.31. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average price is $171.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $171.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.74, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.02.

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. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.55 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.