Banco Santander S.A. lowered its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 5.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 490,045 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 29,220 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 1.0% of Banco Santander S.A.'s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Banco Santander S.A.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $81,931,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 15,424,324 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,578,793,000 after purchasing an additional 1,291,274 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Alphabet by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 14,657,421 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,688,743,000 after buying an additional 636,008 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 12,327,458 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,261,103,000 after buying an additional 282,121 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,843,149,000 after buying an additional 264,962 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its position in Alphabet by 14.0% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 9,903,537 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,655,772,000 after buying an additional 1,218,671 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
GOOG has been the topic of several research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Alphabet to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted 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. Barclays boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five investment 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $200.56.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on GOOG
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 682 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total transaction of $109,420.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,017 shares in the company, valued at $5,136,807.48. The trade was a 2.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total value of $3,442,233.45. Following the sale, the insider now owns 39,334 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,307,206.90. This represents a 35.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 206,795 shares of company stock worth $34,673,866. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Alphabet Trading Down 4.4 %
Shares of GOOG traded down $7.84 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $169.49. 31,830,611 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,627,037. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $129.40 and a 52 week high of $193.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.48, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.04. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $168.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $171.90.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm's revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.55 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Alphabet Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 10.61%.
Alphabet Profile
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Free Report)
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.
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