Gemsstock Ltd. Sells 70,100 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Gemsstock Ltd. decreased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 32.6% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 144,700 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 70,100 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 11.7% of Gemsstock Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Gemsstock Ltd.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $24,192,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. M&G PLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at $2,240,000. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $390,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 301,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $50,488,000 after acquiring an additional 4,292 shares in the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 63,545 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,624,000 after acquiring an additional 5,892 shares during the period. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 11,366 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,097,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $179.58 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.20 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.82, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $129.40 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 fifty day simple moving average is $168.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $171.87.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.55 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total transaction of $75,437.46. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,820,779.40. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.68, for a total value of $3,570,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,137,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $339,160,251.80. This trade represents a 1.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 184,295 shares of company stock valued at $30,698,791. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company 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.