Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by Veritas Asset Management LLP

Veritas Asset Management LLP cut its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,300,950 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 177,302 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 11.4% of Veritas Asset Management LLP’s portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Veritas Asset Management LLP owned approximately 0.08% of Alphabet worth $1,542,563,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake 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 boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 587.4% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,690,326 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,772,991,000 after purchasing an additional 9,135,056 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 14.4% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 57,803,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,724,251,000 after purchasing an additional 7,275,757 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Alphabet by 116.4% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 8,670,225 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,437,957,000 after purchasing an additional 4,662,809 shares during the period. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its position in Alphabet by 18,810.2% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,434,260 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $807,700,000 after purchasing an additional 4,410,811 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total value of $3,442,233.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred 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 approximately $362,126,319.10. The trade was a 1.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 206,795 shares of company stock worth $34,471,141. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Pivotal Research lifted their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $181.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.90.

Alphabet Stock 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 business’s 50-day moving average price is $165.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $170.13. The firm has a market cap of $2.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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