Knuff & Co LLC Sells 3,095 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Knuff & Co LLC lessened its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 6.1% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 48,030 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 3,095 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 2.5% of Knuff & Co LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Knuff & Co LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,030,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Aviance Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 1.0% in the third quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,356 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,735,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Windle Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 8.6% during the third quarter. Windle Wealth LLC now owns 25,747 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,305,000 after purchasing an additional 2,030 shares during the last quarter. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 2.6% during the third quarter. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. now owns 131,470 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $21,980,000 after purchasing an additional 3,307 shares during the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth about $87,000. Finally, Tidemark LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Tidemark LLC now owns 2,023 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $338,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on GOOG. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Scotiabank assumed coverage on Alphabet in a report on Friday, October 11th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price target for the company. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total transaction of $109,420.08. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,136,807.48. The trade was a 2.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total value of $3,772,350.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,159,885 shares in the company, valued at $362,126,319.10. The trade was a 1.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 206,795 shares of company stock worth $34,471,141 over the last quarter. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $176.80 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.16 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.04. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $167.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $171.80. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $129.40 and a twelve month high of $193.31.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.55 earnings per share. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

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.