Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by Sterling Capital Management LLC

Sterling Capital Management LLC decreased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 12.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 258,073 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 36,624 shares during the quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $45,480,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $20,886,000 after acquiring an additional 4,110 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,826,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. Smart Money Group LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.4% during the 1st quarter. Smart Money Group LLC now owns 6,181 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $956,000 after purchasing an additional 532 shares during the period. ESG Planning DBA Harper Investing increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 29.2% during the 1st quarter. ESG Planning DBA Harper Investing now owns 23,365 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,613,000 after purchasing an additional 5,277 shares during the period. Finally, Sage Private Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Sage Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 3,808 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $589,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on GOOGL. Wall Street Zen raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 1st. Moffett Nathanson raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $260.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $240.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $305.33.

Alphabet Stock Up 3.0%

GOOGL stock opened at $292.81 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.53 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $303.81. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $260.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $211.57.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 36.08%. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 8th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 8.28%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.48, for a total transaction of $9,213,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,337,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $662,526,494.12. This trade represents a 1.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.06, for a total value of $168,036.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 4,516 shares in the company, valued at $1,264,750.96. This represents a 11.73% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 192,674 shares of company stock valued at $48,454,423 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

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.