Columbus Macro LLC Raises Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Columbus Macro LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 10.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,117 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 286 shares during the quarter. Columbus Macro LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $549,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $4,317,606,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $78,839,544,000 after acquiring an additional 14,307,345 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 11.4% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 43,865,520 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,783,364,000 after acquiring an additional 4,473,901 shares in the last quarter. Amundi lifted its position in Alphabet by 11.8% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 33,403,871 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,034,992,000 after acquiring an additional 3,537,173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Evergreen Quality Fund GP Ltd. lifted its position in Alphabet by 178.3% during the 1st quarter. Evergreen Quality Fund GP Ltd. now owns 4,003,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $619,163,000 after acquiring an additional 2,565,400 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at $8,371,905.30. This represents a 35.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $680,610.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 17,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,236,785. The trade was a 13.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 246,150 shares of company stock worth $55,805,379 in the last three months. 11.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on GOOGL. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $288.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday. Westpark Capital upped their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Mizuho set a $295.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. DA Davidson upped their target price on Alphabet from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $252.24.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $253.30 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.06 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.98, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $231.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $191.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $256.96.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

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.