Riverbridge Partners LLC Trims Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Riverbridge Partners LLC decreased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 308,340 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 10,303 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 1.3% of Riverbridge Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest position. Riverbridge Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $74,957,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $20,886,000 after purchasing an additional 4,110 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,826,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares during the period. United Bank boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.1% during the first quarter. United Bank now owns 45,084 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,972,000 after buying an additional 910 shares in the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 32.2% during the first quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 1,932,813 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $298,890,000 after buying an additional 470,367 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aristides Capital LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 25.1% during the first quarter. Aristides Capital LLC now owns 68,680 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,621,000 after buying an additional 13,800 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.05, for a total value of $694,638.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 14,516 shares in the company, valued at $3,629,725.80. This represents a 16.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.48, for a total value of $9,213,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,337,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $662,526,494.12. The trade was a 1.37% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 226,128 shares of company stock worth $63,183,331 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.2%

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $313.51 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $295.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $238.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75. The company has a market cap of $3.78 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.07. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $328.83.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. The business had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th were paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.28%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $240.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Alphabet from $288.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Alphabet from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. CIBC boosted their price objective on Alphabet to $315.00 in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $290.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $315.90.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc is the holding company created in 2015 to organize Google and a portfolio of businesses developing technologies beyond Google’s core internet services. Its principal operations are led by Google, which builds and operates consumer-facing products such as Google Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Gmail, Google Maps and Google Workspace, as well as advertising platforms (Google Ads and AdSense) that historically generate the majority of its revenue. Google also develops consumer hardware (Pixel phones, Nest smart-home devices, Chromecast) and developer and distribution platforms such as Google Play.

Beyond Google’s consumer and advertising businesses, Alphabet invests in enterprise and infrastructure offerings through Google Cloud, which provides cloud computing, data analytics and productivity services to businesses and institutions.