Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Boosts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 21.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 632,145 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 112,771 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.8% of Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $111,403,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 242.9% in the 1st quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the period. IMA Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 85.7% in the 1st quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 36.4% during the second quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter valued at $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on GOOGL. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $270.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $315.00 target price (up previously from $250.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Phillip Securities raised Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $307.84.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total value of $4,408,034.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 42,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,635,348.70. The trade was a 29.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.15, for a total transaction of $8,129,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,369,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $592,760,192.85. This represents a 1.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 225,072 shares of company stock worth $58,074,027 over the last three months. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $319.95 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The company has a market cap of $3.86 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.55, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $267.94 and its 200 day moving average is $217.64. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $328.83.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 8.28%.

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.