Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Holdings Lessened by Optas LLC

Optas LLC cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 126,855 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 312 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 4.8% of Optas LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Optas LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $21,039,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 1.5% during the third quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 18,062 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,996,000 after buying an additional 262 shares during the period. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 5.0% during the third quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 62,452 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,358,000 after buying an additional 2,953 shares during the period. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 0.3% during the third quarter. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 72,700 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,057,000 after buying an additional 244 shares during the period. Stevens Capital Partners lifted its position in Alphabet by 34.7% during the third quarter. Stevens Capital Partners now owns 1,544 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $256,000 after buying an additional 398 shares during the period. Finally, Arlington Trust Co LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 0.7% during the third quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 25,811 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,281,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total transaction of $3,772,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,159,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $362,126,319.10. This trade represents a 1.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total value of $109,420.08. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,136,807.48. This trade represents a 2.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,471,141 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of research reports. DA Davidson initiated coverage on Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 price objective on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $208.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven investment 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.90.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $172.49 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $127.90 and a 12-month 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’s 50 day simple moving average is $165.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $170.08.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for 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 quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders 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 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

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.