Tower Bridge Advisors Trims Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Tower Bridge Advisors trimmed its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 64,804 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,598 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 1.1% of Tower Bridge Advisors’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Tower Bridge Advisors’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,748,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 70.6% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 3.6% in 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. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 48.3% during the first quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 36,531 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,514,000 after purchasing an additional 11,898 shares in the last quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 23.6% during the 1st quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC now owns 11,147,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,682,417,000 after buying an additional 2,125,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oxford Wealth Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at $2,529,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total value of $3,975,075.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,061,806 shares in the company, valued at $364,259,266.02. The trade was a 1.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the firm’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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,820,779.40. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,673,866. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $168.95 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.41, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $127.90 and a one year high of $191.75. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $168.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $170.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced 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. 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 quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.55 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on GOOGL. DA Davidson started coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Roth Mkm increased their price objective on Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.90.

About Alphabet

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.