Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by Black Creek Investment Management Inc.

Black Creek Investment Management Inc. reduced its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 8.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 114,611 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 10,339 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 0.9% of Black Creek Investment Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Black Creek Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $20,198,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 85.7% during the 1st quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the second quarter worth $31,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 36.4% in the second quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $50,000. Finally, Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its position in Alphabet by 77.6% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 348 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $320.02 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $269.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $219.18. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $328.83. The firm has a market cap of $3.86 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.56, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 36.08%. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.28%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.64, for a total transaction of $9,640,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,304,619 shares in the company, valued at approximately $683,642,180.16. The trade was a 1.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.80, for a total value of $32,681.60. Following the sale, the director directly owned 18,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,253,567.20. The trade was a 0.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 225,072 shares of company stock worth $58,074,027. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on Alphabet from $270.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $240.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Wall Street Zen raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $330.00 price target (up from $285.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $307.84.

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.