Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Stock Holdings Cut by Centaurus Financial Inc.

Centaurus Financial Inc. cut its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.3% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 62,773 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,808 shares during the quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $11,062,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at $21,944,208,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 17,667.7% during the second 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 buying an additional 15,159,273 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 51.7% in 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 acquiring an additional 10,843,853 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 516,559,609 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $91,033,300,000 after acquiring an additional 6,733,278 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 11.4% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 43,865,520 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,783,364,000 after acquiring an additional 4,473,901 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.05, for a total value of $694,638.90. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 14,516 shares in the company, valued at $3,629,725.80. This trade represents a 16.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.50, for a total transaction of $8,108,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,397,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $598,149,304. This represents a 1.34% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 222,750 shares of company stock valued at $60,496,098. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $308.22 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $284.30 and its 200-day moving average is $230.93. The company has a market cap of $3.72 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.07. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $328.83.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.00% and a net margin of 32.23%. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th were paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was 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%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $350.00 target price (up from $290.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $306.00 price target (up previously from $255.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Citizens Jmp upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $250.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Citic Securities increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently 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.