Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by Clarius Group LLC

Clarius Group LLC decreased its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 23.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 51,143 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 16,023 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 0.7% of Clarius Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Clarius Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $12,433,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position 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 buying an additional 6,733,278 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $40,524,841,000 after acquiring an additional 4,008,374 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 141,615,284 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $24,857,017,000 after acquiring an additional 4,224,497 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at about $21,944,208,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.2% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 44,151,820 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,780,875,000 after purchasing an additional 503,306 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on GOOGL. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Citizens Jmp lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $250.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. BNP Paribas assumed 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $340.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $315.00 price target (up previously from $250.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $315.90.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.48, for a total value of $9,213,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,337,119 shares in the company, valued at $662,526,494.12. This represents a 1.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.05, for a total value of $694,638.90. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 14,516 shares in the company, valued at $3,629,725.80. This trade represents a 16.06% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 226,128 shares of company stock worth $63,183,331. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $314.06 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $328.83. The company’s 50 day moving average is $294.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $237.80. The company has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.07. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. The company 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%. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 8.28%.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc is the holding company created in 2015 to organize Google and a portfolio of businesses developing technologies beyond Google’s core internet services. Its principal operations are led by Google, which builds and operates consumer-facing products such as Google Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Gmail, Google Maps and Google Workspace, as well as advertising platforms (Google Ads and AdSense) that historically generate the majority of its revenue. Google also develops consumer hardware (Pixel phones, Nest smart-home devices, Chromecast) and developer and distribution platforms such as Google Play.

Beyond Google’s consumer and advertising businesses, Alphabet invests in enterprise and infrastructure offerings through Google Cloud, which provides cloud computing, data analytics and productivity services to businesses and institutions.