Westfield Capital Management Co. LP Has $520.49 Million Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Westfield Capital Management Co. LP grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,138,314 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 37,453 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 2.4% of Westfield Capital Management Co. LP’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $520,489,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Centaurus Financial Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 22.9% during the third quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 61,540 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,206,000 after buying an additional 11,481 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 32.8% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 23,596 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,913,000 after acquiring an additional 5,827 shares in the last quarter. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 90,985 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,090,000 after acquiring an additional 2,330 shares during the period. Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,871 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $642,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Family Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% in the third quarter. Family Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,950 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,153,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $174.71 on Friday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $2.14 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $169.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $170.24. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $129.68 and a twelve month high of $191.75.

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 return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business 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. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.61%.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.63, for a total value of $3,614,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,114,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $339,713,977.55. The trade was a 1.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total transaction of $75,437.46. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at $2,820,779.40. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 163,624 shares of company stock worth $27,803,730 in the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Roth Mkm upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective 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. Scotiabank upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Loop Capital raised their target price on Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.