River Road Asset Management LLC Lowers Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

River Road Asset Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,647 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 709 shares during the quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,258,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 70.6% during the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 101,230 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $15,279,000 after purchasing an additional 41,880 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 3.6% in the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 31,171 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,705,000 after acquiring an additional 1,072 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 12.3% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 187,840 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $28,351,000 after acquiring an additional 20,572 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 8.9% during the 1st quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 13,732 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,073,000 after acquiring an additional 1,127 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 510.4% in the 1st quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 12,282 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,854,000 after purchasing an additional 10,270 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Scotiabank upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 target price (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $210.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Roth Mkm increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total transaction of $109,420.08. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,017 shares in the company, valued at $5,136,807.48. The trade was a 2.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total value of $1,898,190.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 330,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,741,643.48. The trade was a 3.08 % 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 worth $34,471,141 in the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $175.30 on Tuesday. 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 $2.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.03. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $166.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $170.28. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $127.90 and a 52 week high of $191.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.55 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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 0.46%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.61%.

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.