Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Increases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 499,569 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 23,644 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.7% of Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $82,853,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 49,472,478 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,011,412,000 after purchasing an additional 238,403 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 23,465,190 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,274,184,000 after acquiring an additional 418,204 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.1% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 23,263,385 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,237,426,000 after acquiring an additional 1,949,476 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 43,005.6% in the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 18,700,111 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 18,183,524 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,015,737,000 after acquiring an additional 1,630,556 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total value of $429,587.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,182 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,421,948.46. This trade represents a 8.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.75, for a total transaction of $123,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 28,524 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,385,565. This trade represents a 2.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 163,624 shares of company stock valued at $27,803,730. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Roth Mkm upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.90.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $174.37 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $128.25 and a 1 year high of $191.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The company has a market capitalization of $2.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.13, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s fifty day moving average is $169.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $170.29.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

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.