Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Sells 15,453 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. trimmed its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 723,005 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 15,453 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 0.9% of Westwood Holdings Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Westwood Holdings Group Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $127,415,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Caxton Associates LLP lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 121.0% during the 2nd quarter. Caxton Associates LLP now owns 134,683 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $23,735,000 after purchasing an additional 73,738 shares during the last quarter. Castleark Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.9% during the second quarter. Castleark Management LLC now owns 387,514 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $68,292,000 after buying an additional 21,425 shares in the last quarter. Second Line Capital LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 4,380 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $772,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Rexford Capital Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at about $84,000. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI boosted its position in Alphabet by 21.7% during the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 11,890,439 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,095,479,000 after buying an additional 2,116,512 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citic Securities increased their price target on Alphabet from $230.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $340.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Alphabet from $288.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. New Street Research boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $275.00 to $295.00 in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane started coverage on Alphabet in a report on Monday, November 24th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $355.00 target price on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $314.22.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $309.29 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The company has a market capitalization of $3.73 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.50, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.07. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $283.14 and a 200 day moving average of $229.57. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $328.83.

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. The business had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.00% and a net margin of 32.23%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.28%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total value of $4,408,034.72. Following the sale, the insider owned 42,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,635,348.70. The trade was a 29.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $680,610.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,236,785. This trade represents a 13.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 226,128 shares of company stock worth $61,326,372. 11.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.