Cortland Associates Inc. MO Sells 97,120 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Cortland Associates Inc. MO reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 33.1% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 195,943 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 97,120 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 3.9% of Cortland Associates Inc. MO’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Cortland Associates Inc. MO’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $32,497,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 3.6% during the second quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,620 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $295,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the second quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 7,224 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,316,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 75.0% during the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. First PREMIER Bank grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.8% during the third quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 1,655 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $275,000 after buying an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MKT Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the third quarter. MKT Advisors LLC now owns 7,363 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,221,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total value of $3,772,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,159,885 shares in the company, valued at $362,126,319.10. This represents a 1.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.41, for a total transaction of $1,862,805.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 319,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,765,168.06. The trade was a 3.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 206,795 shares of company stock worth $34,471,141. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.8 %

GOOGL stock opened at $172.49 on Friday. 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 Inc. has a 1-year low of $127.90 and a 1-year high of $191.75. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $165.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $170.13. The firm has a market cap of $2.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.88, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released 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. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on GOOGL shares. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $210.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. JMP Securities lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.90.

About Alphabet

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.