Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P. Decreases Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P. reduced its holdings in Alphabet Inc. by 4.6%, now owning 1,328,509 shares valued at approximately $207.5 million.
• Alphabet reported strong earnings with an EPS of $2.31, surpassing analysts' estimates, and a revenue of $96.43 billion which was 13.8% higher than the same quarter last year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, reflecting an annualized yield of 0.4% and a low payout ratio of 8.95%.

Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P. lessened its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 4.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,328,509 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 63,446 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 3.8% of Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P.'s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $207,553,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 2.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,570,922 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $64,299,725,000 after acquiring an additional 9,687,855 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 9.9% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 102,232,997 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $15,971,861,000 after acquiring an additional 9,243,959 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 34,103,417 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $6,494,655,000 after acquiring an additional 769,335 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 30,827,999 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,870,944,000 after acquiring an additional 1,467,805 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in Alphabet by 5.4% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 21,345,784 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,334,852,000 after acquiring an additional 1,098,996 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 243,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,213,984. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. This represents a 35.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 254,710 shares of company stock worth $49,208,380 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of GOOG traded up $2.51 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $235.17. The company had a trading volume of 26,091,032 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,956,284. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $196.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $176.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $236.13.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on GOOG shares. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Piper Sandler reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Lake Street Capital reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $227.56.

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.