Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. Sells 1,403 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. lowered its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,049 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,403 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 0.8% of Roman Butler Fullerton & Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,656,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 43,005.6% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 18,743,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $31,086,250,000 after buying an additional 18,700,111 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 587.4% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,690,326 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,772,991,000 after buying an additional 9,135,056 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 14.4% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 57,803,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,724,251,000 after buying an additional 7,275,757 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 116.4% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 8,670,225 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,437,957,000 after buying an additional 4,662,809 shares during the period. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 18,810.2% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,434,260 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $807,700,000 after buying an additional 4,410,811 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on GOOGL. China Renaissance upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.90.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total value of $3,772,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,159,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $362,126,319.10. This trade represents a 1.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total transaction of $3,442,233.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 39,334 shares in the company, valued at $6,307,206.90. This represents a 35.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,471,141. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $172.49 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $127.90 and a 52 week high of $191.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.03. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $165.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $170.13.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Alphabet Company 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.