Sather Financial Group Inc Cuts Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Sather Financial Group Inc lowered its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 798,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,579 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 9.5% of Sather Financial Group Inc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Sather Financial Group Inc’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $152,060,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of GOOG. FMR LLC boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 5,655,022 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 103,557,486 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $17,247,208,000 after acquiring an additional 259,213 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.3% in the third 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 period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 9.1% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 15,424,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,578,793,000 after purchasing an additional 1,291,274 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,843,149,000 after purchasing an additional 264,962 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at $52,329,576.64. This represents a 11.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total value of $3,975,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,061,806 shares in the company, valued at approximately $364,259,266.02. This represents a 1.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 89,529 shares of company stock worth $16,600,078 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $186.87 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $131.55 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The company has a market cap of $2.29 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.00. The company’s 50 day moving average is $194.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $176.54.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Jmp cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

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.