Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Position Lifted by Cantillon Capital Management LLC

Cantillon Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,487,038 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 23,790 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 5.1% of Cantillon Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Cantillon Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $849,396,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 20,990.0% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,186,748 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,171,151,000 after purchasing an additional 6,157,413 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,559,240,000 after purchasing an additional 4,567,275 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth about $513,024,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,030,679 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,154,651,000 after purchasing an additional 2,626,431 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 26.9% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 10,064,598 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,669,300,000 after purchasing an additional 2,136,128 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $229.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Wedbush lifted their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.62.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $165.49 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $185.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.38. The stock has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.56, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.03 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. The trade was a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 95,882 shares of company stock worth $17,934,130. 11.55% of the stock is owned by 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.