Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG Sells 30,689 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG has reduced its holdings in Alphabet Inc. by 6.6%, selling 30,689 shares and maintaining a total of 437,269 shares valued at approximately $77.57 million.
• Insiders have been active, with Director John L. Hennessy selling 600 shares and another Director, Kavitark Ram Shriram, selling 15,000 shares recently, indicating a combined ownership decrease.
• Alphabet's stock currently holds a Moderate Buy rating among analysts, with a consensus target price of $230.35 based on multiple research reports.

Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 6.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 437,269 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 30,689 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 1.7% of Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG's holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG's holdings in Alphabet were worth $77,567,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Traveka Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Traveka Wealth LLC now owns 11,229 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,992,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Kingsman Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 2.4% in the second quarter. Kingsman Wealth Management Inc. now owns 5,343 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $948,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 3.4% in the second quarter. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,742 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $309,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 28.5% in the second quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,889 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $867,000 after purchasing an additional 1,084 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Essex Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 3.6% in the second quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 51,536 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $9,142,000 after purchasing an additional 1,813 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.44, for a total value of $149,664.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,716 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,425,799.04. This represents a 9.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 15,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $2,786,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 240,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,656,704. The trade was a 5.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 258,088 shares of company stock valued at $52,405,304 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. KeyCorp set a $265.00 price objective on Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Roth Capital reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $210.00 price objective (up previously from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $270.00 price objective (up previously from $235.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $230.35.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $247.18 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.99 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.32, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.01. The business's fifty day moving average is $216.61 and its 200 day moving average is $184.39. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $256.70. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th were paid a $0.21 dividend. 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 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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