Pzena Investment Management LLC Sells 92,618 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Pzena Investment Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 54.1% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 78,539 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 92,618 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $27,024,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. EMC Capital Management acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the second quarter worth about $35,000. Core Capital Management & Research inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at about $41,000. Intelligent Financial Strategies bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth about $41,000. Premier Financial Group bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, Van Den Berg Management I Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 319.6% during the 1st quarter. Van Den Berg Management I Inc. now owns 214 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Alphabet News

Here’s some of the latest news about GOOGL:

• Positive Sentiment: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s reported departure has put a spotlight on alternatives to Nvidia. Alphabet’s expanding TPU business could help it compete for AI workloads and gain market share, while its Google Cloud infrastructure also uses AMD processors. Why Alphabet Stock Was Moving Higher Today
• Positive Sentiment: Recent coverage points to Google Cloud’s growth and Alphabet’s AI investments as potential long-term drivers. Berkshire Hathaway has also built a sizable Alphabet position, buying more than 60 million shares since Greg Abel became CEO, a notable vote of confidence. Warren Buffett’s Successor, Greg Abel, Has Nearly $110 Billion Invested in These 2 Tech Stocks
• Negative Sentiment: A lawsuit against Google and other AI developers seeks to halt frontier AI development, creating potential regulatory and operational uncertainty. Separately, securities class actions allege investors were misled about Gemini development and disclosures; the allegations are not proven, but add legal overhang. Lawsuit Seeks to Halt Frontier AI Development

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $298.70 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 15.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a current ratio of 2.79. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $329.12 and a 200-day moving average of $338.21. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $270.70 and a one year high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.02 by ($0.90). The company had revenue of $127.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $127.96 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 50.03% and a return on equity of 43.33%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 19.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 14th. Investors of record on Monday, December 7th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 7th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 4.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 83 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.45, for a total value of $28,257.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 19,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,494,424.20. This trade represents a 0.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 247 shares of company stock valued at $79,238. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $325.00 price objective (down from $385.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Citizens Jmp cut Alphabet from a “market outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Rosenblatt Securities cut their target price on Alphabet from $410.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $385.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-five have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $412.51.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc. is a technology holding company whose largest business is Google. Founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google became part of Alphabet when the company reorganized its businesses under the holding-company structure in 2015. Google’s products and services include Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Google Maps, Google Play and Google Cloud. The company also generates revenue from digital advertising and offers devices, subscriptions and artificial intelligence products and services.