Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC Increases Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 62.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 3,480 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,337 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $577,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Impax Asset Management Group plc increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 728,575 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $120,834,000 after purchasing an additional 46,677 shares in the last quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% during the third quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 9,217 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,528,000 after buying an additional 224 shares during the last quarter. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 13.9% in the 3rd quarter. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. now owns 587,363 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $97,414,000 after buying an additional 71,651 shares in the last quarter. PDS Planning Inc raised its position in Alphabet by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 29,860 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,952,000 after buying an additional 1,009 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Garrison Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Garrison Asset Management LLC now owns 3,977 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $660,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total transaction of $3,772,350.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,159,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $362,126,319.10. This represents a 1.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total transaction of $109,420.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,136,807.48. The trade was a 2.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,471,141. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of GOOGL opened at $172.49 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $2.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $127.90 and a 1 year high of $191.75. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $165.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $170.22.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its 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 firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.55 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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. 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 0.46%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Tigress Financial raised their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Loop Capital lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.90.

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.