Jensen Investment Management Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Jensen Investment Management Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 20.5% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,746,210 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 965,024 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 5.2% of Jensen Investment Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest position. Jensen Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $621,309,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 75.0% during the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Denver PWM LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $55,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $164.76 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $127.90 and a 12-month high of $191.75. The company has a market capitalization of $2.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.85, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a 50 day moving average of $167.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $170.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its 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. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.55 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. Pivotal Research raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 price target (up from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.90.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total value of $429,587.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,182 shares in the company, valued at $4,421,948.46. This represents a 8.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total value of $3,442,233.45. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 39,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,307,206.90. The trade was a 35.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,673,866. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.