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

Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. lowered its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 777,908 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 243 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 2.8% of Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $130,058,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9,200.0% during the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the period. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth $37,000. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth $40,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. increased its stake in Alphabet by 87.3% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Slocum Gordon & Co LLP purchased a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter worth about $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s 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 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total transaction of $3,442,233.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 39,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,307,206.90. This represents a 35.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,673,866 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on GOOG. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOG traded up $1.09 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $170.52. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,403,215 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,575,656. The stock has a market cap of $2.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.47, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.04. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $169.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $171.85. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $129.40 and a 52 week 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.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The business’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.55 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

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.