Columbus Hill Capital Management L.P. Reduces Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Columbus Hill Capital Management L.P. cut its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 149,415 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 5,000 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 3.8% of Columbus Hill Capital Management L.P.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Columbus Hill Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $26,331,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 17.9% during the first quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 88,187 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,637,000 after acquiring an additional 13,371 shares during the period. Alaethes Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% in the first quarter. Alaethes Wealth LLC now owns 7,646 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,182,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the period. Moment Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% during the second quarter. Moment Partners LLC now owns 5,896 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,039,000 after purchasing an additional 504 shares in the last quarter. Welch Group LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 64,262 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,325,000 after purchasing an additional 2,467 shares during the period. Finally, Elgethun Capital Management lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. Elgethun Capital Management now owns 8,487 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,312,000 after purchasing an additional 390 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $321.27 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. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $328.83. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $276.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $224.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.88 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued 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 return on equity of 35.00% and a net margin of 32.23%.The company had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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 issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.28%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $290.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Citic Securities raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $315.00 price objective (up previously from $250.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. 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, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $312.65.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.66, for a total transaction of $32,401.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 18,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,750,916.64. The trade was a 0.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.50, for a total transaction of $10,383,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,272,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $725,942,020.50. This represents a 1.41% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 226,128 shares of company stock valued at $61,326,372 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

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.