ING Groep NV Trims Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

ING Groep NV decreased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,611,072 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 417,954 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 2.5% of ING Groep NV’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. ING Groep NV’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $433,046,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. New Hampshire Trust lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.7% in the second quarter. New Hampshire Trust now owns 43,714 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,963,000 after buying an additional 1,132 shares during the period. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $771,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. abrdn plc raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.7% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. now owns 21,509 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,567,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the period. Finally, EWG Elevate Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. EWG Elevate Inc. now owns 1,305 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $216,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total value of $109,420.08. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,136,807.48. The trade was a 2.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total transaction of $3,975,075.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,061,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $364,259,266.02. This represents a 1.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,673,866 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Roth Mkm increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Scotiabank raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.90.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL opened at $169.23 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $127.90 and a fifty-two week high of $191.75. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $168.36 and a 200 day moving average of $170.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The firm has a market cap of $2.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.44, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

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.