Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Position Lessened by Castleark Management LLC

Castleark Management LLC cut its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 480,009 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 23,843 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 3.2% of Castleark Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Castleark Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $79,609,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Schear Investment Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 33,751 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,598,000 after purchasing an additional 4,905 shares in the last quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% in the third quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $771,000 after buying an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 27.9% during the third quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 25,275 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,192,000 after buying an additional 5,516 shares during the period. abrdn plc boosted its position in Alphabet by 10.7% during the third quarter. abrdn plc now owns 6,305,717 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,037,196,000 after acquiring an additional 611,233 shares during the last quarter. Finally, StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. now owns 21,509 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,567,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JMP Securities increased their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 target price (up from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. DA Davidson assumed coverage on Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 price target for the company. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $206.08.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.63, for a total transaction of $3,614,175.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,114,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $339,713,977.55. This represents a 1.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 700 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total transaction of $115,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,590,960. This trade represents a 2.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 198,623 shares of company stock valued at $34,413,006. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $189.82 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $129.68 and a fifty-two week high of $195.61. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $171.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $170.63. The firm has a market cap of $2.32 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.55 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

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.