Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC Lowers Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC trimmed its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 301,709 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 7,496 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $50,443,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. World Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 28.3% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 149,907 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $25,063,000 after buying an additional 33,032 shares during the period. Zacks Investment Management boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 143,432 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $23,980,000 after acquiring an additional 3,398 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 16.0% during the 3rd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 242,787 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $40,592,000 after acquiring an additional 33,457 shares during the period. Vienna Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 13.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vienna Asset Management LLC now owns 25,197 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,213,000 after purchasing an additional 2,984 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 44.2% in the 3rd quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,032,476 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $172,620,000 after purchasing an additional 316,674 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total value of $1,898,190.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 330,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,741,643.48. The trade was a 3.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total value of $232,950.47. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,007,191.15. This represents a 5.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 163,624 shares of company stock worth $27,803,730 over the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on GOOG. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $176.49 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $131.06 and a 52-week high of $193.31. The stock has a market cap of $2.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.41, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.02. The business has a fifty day moving average of $170.84 and a two-hundred day moving average of $171.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.55 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid 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 yield of 0.45%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.