Boston Common Asset Management LLC Reduces Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Boston Common Asset Management LLC lowered its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 164,312 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,627 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 0.9% of Boston Common Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Boston Common Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $31,292,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in 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 worth $34,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. grew its stake in Alphabet by 87.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup raised their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Alphabet in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $197.55 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $185.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $174.93. The stock has a market cap of $2.42 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.99. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $131.55 and a 1 year high of $202.88. 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. Alphabet’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 earnings per share 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 issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. 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 is presently 10.61%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $550,702.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,468,029.04. The trade was a 13.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,329,576.64. This trade represents a 11.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 133,387 shares of company stock valued at $24,368,654 over the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.