Professional Advisory Services Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Professional Advisory Services Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 19.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 187,224 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 45,466 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 4.9% of Professional Advisory Services Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Professional Advisory Services Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $35,655,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. M&G PLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth about $2,240,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 14.4% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 116,776 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $19,642,000 after acquiring an additional 14,738 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 1.4% in the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 301,980 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $50,488,000 after acquiring an additional 4,292 shares during the period. Stevens Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 172.9% during the third quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP now owns 91,237 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $15,254,000 after purchasing an additional 57,810 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.2% during the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 63,545 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,624,000 after purchasing an additional 5,892 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GOOG. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $200.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,367 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.42, for a total value of $234,331.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 26,349 shares in the company, valued at $4,516,745.58. This represents a 4.93 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total transaction of $1,898,190.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 330,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,741,643.48. This represents a 3.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 133,387 shares of company stock valued at $24,368,654 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of Alphabet stock traded up $3.14 on Friday, reaching $197.55. 21,974,853 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,381,408. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $131.55 and a fifty-two week high of $202.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.42 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.99. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $185.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $174.85.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet's payout ratio is 10.61%.

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.