Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Cuts Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. lessened its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 73.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,758 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 26,497 shares during the quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,618,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its stake in Alphabet by 75.0% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. Denver PWM LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $41,000. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $53,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $55,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now owns 39,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,307,206.90. This trade represents a 35.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.68, for a total transaction of $3,570,300.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,673,866. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.1 %

GOOGL opened at $169.23 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.03. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $168.36 and its 200-day moving average is $170.33. 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.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for 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 last year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently 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.