Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 6.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 459,400 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 29,097 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 0.9% of Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $76,807,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 19.7% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 84,171,721 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $12,815,986,000 after buying an additional 13,876,534 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Alphabet during the first quarter worth $1,378,708,000. Capital International Investors increased its position in Alphabet by 9.3% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,716,562 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,355,724,000 after buying an additional 7,470,042 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Alphabet by 65.9% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 6,294,332 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,052,349,000 after buying an additional 2,500,621 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vima LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 178,253.1% during the first quarter. Vima LLC now owns 2,001,122 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $304,691,000 after buying an additional 2,000,000 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of GOOG traded down $3.14 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $177.35. 17,905,270 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,573,291. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $166.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $171.57. The company has a market cap of $2.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $129.40 and a 1-year 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 - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet's payout ratio is 10.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GOOG shares. DA Davidson upgraded Alphabet to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Scotiabank started coverage on Alphabet in a report on Friday, October 11th. They set a "sector outperform" rating and a $212.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup raised their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Alphabet to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $200.56.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 700 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total transaction of $115,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 29,324 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,838,460. The trade was a 2.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total value of $3,772,350.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,159,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $362,126,319.10. The trade was a 1.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 207,495 shares of company stock valued at $34,586,641. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.