Castellan Group Decreases Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Castellan Group reduced its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.7% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,990 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 300 shares during the period. Castellan Group’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $828,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 43,005.6% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 18,743,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $31,086,250,000 after buying an additional 18,700,111 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 587.4% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,690,326 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,772,991,000 after acquiring an additional 9,135,056 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 116.4% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 8,670,225 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,437,957,000 after acquiring an additional 4,662,809 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its position in Alphabet by 18,810.2% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,434,260 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $807,700,000 after purchasing an additional 4,410,811 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI boosted its position in Alphabet by 91.0% in the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 7,928,470 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,450,599,000 after purchasing an additional 3,777,527 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.1 %

GOOGL stock opened at $188.51 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $130.66 and a 12 month high of $201.42. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $173.99 and its 200 day moving average is $171.21. The company has a market capitalization of $2.31 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.55 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $204.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. KeyCorp raised their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $206.69.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total value of $115,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 27,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,590,960. The trade was a 2.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total transaction of $75,437.46. Following the transaction, the director now owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,820,779.40. This represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 178,957 shares of company stock worth $31,358,687. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.