Ceera Investments LLC Decreases Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Ceera Investments LLC lessened its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 52,837 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 145 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 4.1% of Ceera Investments LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Ceera Investments LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $9,624,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Nebula Research & Development LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $787,000. New Hampshire Trust grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.7% in the second quarter. New Hampshire Trust now owns 43,714 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,963,000 after purchasing an additional 1,132 shares during the last quarter. Matisse Capital grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Matisse Capital now owns 16,781 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,344,000 after purchasing an additional 2,026 shares during the last quarter. Berkshire Money Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth $359,000. Finally, Schneider Downs Wealth Management Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 58.4% in the first quarter. Schneider Downs Wealth Management Advisors LP now owns 6,374 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $962,000 after purchasing an additional 2,351 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $208.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $206.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $222.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.08.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.9 %

Alphabet stock opened at $163.59 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $120.21 and a fifty-two week high of $191.75. The stock has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $164.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $165.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.60 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.44 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.85, for a total value of $278,775.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,824 shares in the company, valued at $5,728,640.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.85, for a total value of $278,775.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 30,824 shares in the company, valued at $5,728,640.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total transaction of $600,175.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,655.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 180,167 shares of company stock worth $29,762,606 over the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.