Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Bought by Castleark Management LLC

Castleark Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.9% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 387,514 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,425 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 2.1% of Castleark Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Castleark Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $68,292,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 36.4% in the 2nd quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 37.9% in the 2nd quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 324 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its holdings in Alphabet by 77.6% during the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 348 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the period. Finally, S&T Bank PA grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 40.2% during the 2nd quarter. S&T Bank PA now owns 345 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total value of $4,408,034.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 42,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,635,348.70. This represents a 29.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.41, for a total transaction of $7,910,825.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,402,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $584,699,785.79. This represents a 1.33% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 226,128 shares of company stock worth $61,326,372. 11.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $309.29 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $283.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $229.57. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $328.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.73 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.50, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released 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 firm had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. On average, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Alphabet from $240.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. CICC Research boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $240.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets set a $294.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $288.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $314.22.

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.