Insight Inv LLC Reduces Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Insight Inv LLC reduced its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) by 53.1% during the second quarter, owning 17,776 shares after selling 20,133 shares.
• Several large investors, including Nuveen LLC and Vanguard Group Inc., have increased their stakes in Alphabet, with Vanguard owning over 509 million shares after acquiring an additional 14 million shares.
• Wall Street analysts have mixed views on GOOGL shares, with a downgrade to "hold" by Wall Street Zen and an increased price target of up to $294.00 from BMO Capital Markets.

Insight Inv LLC lessened its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 53.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 17,776 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 20,133 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 2.1% of Insight Inv LLC's holdings, making the stock its 11th largest position. Insight Inv LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,133,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at $4,317,606,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 2.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $78,839,544,000 after acquiring an additional 14,307,345 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 11.4% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 43,865,520 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,783,364,000 after acquiring an additional 4,473,901 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its stake in Alphabet by 11.8% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 33,403,871 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,034,992,000 after acquiring an additional 3,537,173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Evergreen Quality Fund GP Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 178.3% during the first quarter. Evergreen Quality Fund GP Ltd. now owns 4,003,900 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $619,163,000 after buying an additional 2,565,400 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, September 21st. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, September 18th. JMP Securities increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $250.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets set a $294.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $252.24.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,778 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.05, for a total transaction of $694,638.90. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 14,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,629,725.80. This trade represents a 16.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total transaction of $4,408,034.72. Following the sale, the insider owned 42,985 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,635,348.70. This trade represents a 29.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 246,150 shares of company stock valued at $55,805,379 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of GOOGL opened at $253.30 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $231.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $191.85. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $256.96. The stock has a market cap of $3.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.60 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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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