ARS Investment Partners LLC Sells 18,638 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

ARS Investment Partners LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 36.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 32,005 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 18,638 shares during the period. ARS Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,095,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOG. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 114,802,133 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,193,768,000 after acquiring an additional 5,655,022 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.3% in 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 purchasing an additional 3,113,395 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 65.9% in the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 2,500,621 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 182.1% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 15,424,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,578,793,000 after buying an additional 1,291,274 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $200.03 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $186.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $174.89. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $131.55 and a one year high of $203.84. The firm has a market cap of $2.45 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.99. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on GOOG shares. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research upped their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total transaction of $291,330.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,529,987.28. This represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total value of $232,950.47. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,007,191.15. The trade was a 5.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.