Ameritas Advisory Services LLC Cuts Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Ameritas Advisory Services LLC decreased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 10.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 42,599 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 4,953 shares during the quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,113,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 114,802,133 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $19,193,768,000 after purchasing an additional 5,655,022 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 33,334,082 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,573,125,000 after buying an additional 3,113,395 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of 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 valued at $1,052,349,000 after buying an additional 2,500,621 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 182.1% during the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 2,526,055 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $422,331,000 after acquiring an additional 1,630,701 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 9.1% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 15,424,324 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,578,793,000 after acquiring an additional 1,291,274 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG opened at $197.55 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.42 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.99. The business's 50-day moving average is $185.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $174.85. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $131.55 and a 1 year high of $202.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released 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 business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.55 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $52,329,576.64. This represents a 11.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the business'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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,820,779.40. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 133,387 shares of company stock valued at $24,368,654 over the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on GOOG. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, October 11th. They set a "sector outperform" rating and a $212.00 price objective for the company. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six equities 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company 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.