Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. Lowers Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. reduced its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 777,908 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 243 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 2.8% of Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $130,058,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Principal Street Partners LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 97.7% in the third quarter. Principal Street Partners LLC now owns 27,248 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,997,000 after acquiring an additional 13,464 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 29,921 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,002,000 after purchasing an additional 1,805 shares during the last quarter. Covington Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Covington Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 222,275 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $37,162,000 after purchasing an additional 2,150 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth $1,445,000. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.5% in the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 286,906 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,968,000 after buying an additional 4,233 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.68, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total value of $109,420.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,017 shares in the company, valued at $5,136,807.48. This trade represents a 2.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 206,795 shares of company stock worth $34,673,866. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $1.09 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $170.52. The stock had a trading volume of 1,403,215 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,575,656. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $129.40 and a twelve month high of $193.31. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $169.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $171.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.09 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.47, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.04. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 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 business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on GOOG. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Pivotal Research upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

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.