Alerus Financial NA Lowers Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Alerus Financial NA cut its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 22.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 132,415 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 38,677 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.6% of Alerus Financial NA’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Alerus Financial NA’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $21,961,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Royal Capital Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 18.5% in the 3rd quarter. Royal Capital Wealth Management LLC now owns 26,774 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,440,000 after acquiring an additional 4,182 shares during the last quarter. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $589,000. Lavaca Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 219.9% during the 3rd quarter. Lavaca Capital LLC now owns 14,547 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,413,000 after buying an additional 10,000 shares during the last quarter. B&L Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,980,000. Finally, Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $198,110,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Loop Capital boosted their target price on Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JMP Securities boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $206.08.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $191.96 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $170.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $170.46. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $129.68 and a 52 week high of $195.61. 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 company has a market cap of $2.35 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total transaction of $115,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,590,960. This trade represents a 2.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.63, for a total transaction of $3,614,175.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,114,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $339,713,977.55. This represents a 1.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 197,123 shares of company stock valued at $34,121,676 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet 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.