Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Purchased by Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 499,569 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 23,644 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 1.7% of Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $82,853,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 75.0% in 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 period. LMR Partners LLP purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. Denver PWM LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at about $53,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 target price (up from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. China Renaissance upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, 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 report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.90.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.8 %

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $174.37 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $169.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $170.29. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $128.25 and a 52 week high of $191.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market cap of $2.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.13, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted 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 analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.55 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total value of $232,950.47. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,007,191.15. This represents a 5.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total transaction of $1,898,190.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 330,466 shares in the company, valued at $59,741,643.48. This represents a 3.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 163,624 shares of company stock valued at $27,803,730. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

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.