Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC cut its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 15.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,210 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 400 shares during the quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $369,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,985 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,465,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. PCG Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% during the second quarter. PCG Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,880 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $345,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV now owns 3,636 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $667,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV now owns 2,944 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $540,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 11.1% during the 1st quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC now owns 600 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $91,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.35, for a total transaction of $3,652,875.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,182,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $354,310,204.75. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total value of $5,570,188.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,765,346. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.35, for a total transaction of $3,652,875.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,182,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $354,310,204.75. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 230,244 shares of company stock worth $37,776,954. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $172.65 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $163.81 and its 200-day moving average is $170.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 2.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.90, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $128.11 and a fifty-two week 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 for the quarter, topping 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 analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.83 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on GOOG shares. Citigroup increased their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Wolfe Research raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, October 11th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.56.

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.