Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is Weitz Investment Management Inc.’s 3rd Largest Position

Weitz Investment Management Inc. lowered its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 8.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 518,700 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 48,275 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 5.1% of Weitz Investment Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Weitz Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $98,781,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 2.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,843,149,000 after buying an additional 264,962 shares during the last quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $505,000. Atom Investors LP raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. Atom Investors LP now owns 16,517 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,761,000 after acquiring an additional 1,348 shares in the last quarter. HighVista Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 9.6% in the 3rd quarter. HighVista Strategies LLC now owns 12,536 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,096,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 2,247,845 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $375,864,000 after purchasing an additional 51,045 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total transaction of $3,245,761.20. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. This represents a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,368 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.55, for a total transaction of $262,040.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,961,445.55. This trade represents a 6.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 88,665 shares of company stock valued at $16,198,310. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Citizens Jmp downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.65.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $158.88 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $179.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $178.70. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $148.20 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

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.