Cortland Associates Inc. MO Lowers Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Cortland Associates Inc. MO reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.1% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 200,052 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 276 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 4.6% of Cortland Associates Inc. MO’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest position. Cortland Associates Inc. MO’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $36,694,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $8,232,000. GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 964.3% during the 4th quarter. GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC. now owns 482,698 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $68,027,000 after acquiring an additional 437,345 shares during the last quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 15.5% in the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 29,159 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,109,000 after acquiring an additional 3,924 shares during the period. Citizens Business Bank raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 32.1% during the fourth quarter. Citizens Business Bank now owns 7,528 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,061,000 after purchasing an additional 1,828 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bridgewater Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. now owns 29,986 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,226,000 after purchasing an additional 2,621 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.86, for a total value of $118,572.52. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,209,888.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total transaction of $3,772,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,159,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $362,126,319.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.86, for a total value of $118,572.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,209,888.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 179,065 shares of company stock valued at $31,025,543 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG traded up $1.71 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $165.11. 18,074,063 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,158,742. The company has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $175.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $165.02. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $121.46 and a 52-week high of $193.31.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.44 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wolfe Research raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. TD Cowen raised their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Rosenblatt Securities cut Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $182.86.

About Alphabet

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.