AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc Sells 199,339 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 19.6%, selling 199,339 shares, leaving it with 816,046 shares valued at approximately $144.7 million.
• Several analysts have recently raised their price targets for Alphabet, with Robert W. Baird increasing theirs to $275 and Pivotal Research to $300, reflecting a generally positive outlook on the stock.
• Alphabet announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, representing an annualized yield of 0.3%, with a payout ratio currently at 8.95%.

AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc lessened its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 19.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 816,046 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 199,339 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 1.9% of AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc's portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc's holdings in Alphabet were worth $144,709,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth $26,000. IFS Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 400.0% in the second quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Robbins Farley grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 60.0% in the second quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 160 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 58.7% in the second quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Pivotal Research raised their target price on Alphabet from $245.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Roth Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Mizuho raised Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $244.68.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.15, for a total transaction of $8,129,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,369,619 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $592,760,192.85. The trade was a 1.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total value of $4,408,034.72. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 42,985 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,635,348.70. This represents a 29.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 243,372 shares of company stock worth $55,110,740. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $253.79 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $232.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $192.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $257.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

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.

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