Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by Sigma Planning Corp

Sigma Planning Corp lowered its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 81,362 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,905 shares during the quarter. Sigma Planning Corp’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $13,494,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 70.6% during the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 101,230 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $15,279,000 after acquiring an additional 41,880 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 3.6% during the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 31,171 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,705,000 after purchasing an additional 1,072 shares during the last quarter. City of London Investment Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 70.5% during the first quarter. City of London Investment Management Co. Ltd. now owns 185,415 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $27,961,000 after purchasing an additional 76,650 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 497,874,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $75,144,172,000 after buying an additional 4,064,073 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TIAA Trust National Association grew its position in Alphabet by 3.6% in the first quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 1,093,974 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $165,113,000 after buying an additional 37,798 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. KeyCorp increased their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 24th. China Renaissance upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 price target (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.90.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $164.76 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.85, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $127.90 and a 1 year high of $191.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $167.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $170.35.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued 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 0.49%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total transaction of $75,437.46. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,820,779.40. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.68, for a total value of $3,570,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,137,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $339,160,251.80. The trade was a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,673,866. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.