Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Sells 387,594 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC reduced its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 12.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,643,889 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 387,594 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.4% of Lord Abbett & CO. LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $438,489,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Lantz Financial LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 10.8% during the second quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 4,622 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $842,000 after acquiring an additional 452 shares during the period. Spectrum Wealth Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter valued at about $218,000. ERn Financial LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.5% during the second quarter. ERn Financial LLC now owns 17,011 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,098,000 after acquiring an additional 416 shares during the period. Evolution Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 28.4% during the second quarter. Evolution Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 14,133 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,577,000 after acquiring an additional 3,129 shares during the period. Finally, Old Port Advisors increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.9% during the second quarter. Old Port Advisors now owns 16,483 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,002,000 after acquiring an additional 460 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on GOOGL. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. China Renaissance raised Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Loop Capital lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $206.69.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL traded up $2.90 during trading on Friday, hitting $191.41. 62,697,719 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 27,725,518. The stock has a market cap of $2.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $130.66 and a fifty-two week high of $201.42. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $174.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $171.33.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted 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. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $75,437.46. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,820,779.40. This represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,367 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.84, for a total transaction of $230,804.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,183 shares in the company, valued at $4,927,257.72. This trade represents a 4.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 178,957 shares of company stock valued at $31,358,687 over the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.