Boston Common Asset Management LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Boston Common Asset Management LLC cut its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 164,312 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 1,627 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 0.9% of Boston Common Asset Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. Boston Common Asset Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $31,292,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Beck Bode LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 7.1% during the second quarter. Beck Bode LLC now owns 67,523 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $12,385,000 after acquiring an additional 4,456 shares during the period. Bridges Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 56.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. now owns 438,366 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $80,405,000 after purchasing an additional 157,453 shares during the last quarter. Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC now owns 23,516 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,313,000 after purchasing an additional 582 shares during the last quarter. Simplify Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $233,000. Finally, Elite Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 33.1% during the 2nd quarter. Elite Wealth Management Inc. now owns 46,609 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $8,549,000 after buying an additional 11,602 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG traded up $3.14 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $197.55. The company's stock had a trading volume of 21,974,853 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,381,408. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $185.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $174.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.42 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.99. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $131.55 and a one year high of $202.88. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Pivotal Research raised their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Alphabet in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They set a "sector outperform" rating and a $212.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Six research 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. 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.