Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Sells 20,295 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership trimmed its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 2.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 860,106 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 20,295 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership's holdings in Alphabet were worth $152,574,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

• Alphabet: Buffett's Bet on Its Next Phase of Growth

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Forge First Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 55.7% in the second quarter. Forge First Asset Management Inc. now owns 35,800 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $6,349,000 after acquiring an additional 12,800 shares during the period. Saturna Capital Corp increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 12.5% during the 2nd quarter. Saturna Capital Corp now owns 1,951 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $346,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 2.8% in the second quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 186,882 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $33,151,000 after purchasing an additional 5,117 shares during the last quarter. Nicholas Wealth LLC. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 55.2% in the 2nd quarter. Nicholas Wealth LLC. now owns 1,991 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $353,000 after acquiring an additional 708 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ARS Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. ARS Investment Partners LLC now owns 32,097 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,694,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.06, for a total transaction of $168,036.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 4,516 shares in the company, valued at $1,264,750.96. The trade was a 11.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.80, for a total transaction of $32,681.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 18,004 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,253,567.20. This represents a 0.62% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 195,452 shares of company stock worth $49,255,209. Insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.8%

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Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $292.99 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $260.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $212.43. The company has a market cap of $3.54 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.89, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $304.25.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 36.08%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.12 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.28%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Pivotal Research raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $300.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $275.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $324.81.

Get Our Latest Analysis on Alphabet

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.

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