Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Bought by Caxton Associates LLP

Caxton Associates LLP grew its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 121.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 134,683 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 73,738 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 0.6% of Caxton Associates LLP’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Caxton Associates LLP’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $23,735,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the second quarter worth approximately $21,944,208,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $4,317,606,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 17,667.7% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,245,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,686,640,000 after acquiring an additional 15,159,273 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 51.7% during the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 31,817,684 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,607,232,000 after purchasing an additional 10,843,853 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 516,559,609 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $91,033,300,000 after purchasing an additional 6,733,278 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on GOOGL. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $225.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on Alphabet from $224.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Alphabet from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. BNP Paribas Exane started coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, November 24th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $355.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “buy” rating and set a $315.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $314.22.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $309.29 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $328.83. 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 stock has a market cap of $3.73 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.50, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. On average, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $680,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 17,293 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,236,785. This trade represents a 13.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.41, for a total value of $7,910,825.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,402,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $584,699,785.79. This trade represents a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 226,128 shares of company stock worth $61,326,372. Corporate 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.