Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL is Cantillon Capital Management LLC’s 3rd Largest Position

Cantillon Capital Management LLC cut its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,229,590 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 122,838 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 4.3% of Cantillon Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Cantillon Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $745,381,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $78,839,544,000 after purchasing an additional 14,307,345 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 11.4% during the first 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 buying an additional 4,473,901 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Alphabet by 1.4% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 43,648,514 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,749,806,000 after buying an additional 593,345 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in Alphabet by 1.9% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 39,792,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,153,481,000 after buying an additional 727,335 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 0.3% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 38,556,577 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,962,389,000 after buying an additional 104,859 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.1%

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $281.31 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $291.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $244.00 and a 200-day moving average of $199.98. The firm has a market cap of $3.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a return on equity of 36.08% and a net margin of 32.23%.The company had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Alphabet from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $315.00 target price (up from $250.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $330.00 target price (up from $285.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday. CICC Research boosted their target price on Alphabet from $240.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane boosted their target price on Alphabet from $187.00 to $247.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $302.20.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.50, for a total value of $8,108,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,397,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $598,149,304. This represents a 1.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,236,785. This represents a 13.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 246,150 shares of company stock valued at $55,805,379. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

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.