Centaurus Financial Inc. Has $16.85 Million Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Centaurus Financial Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 95,003 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 3,573 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 1.0% of Centaurus Financial Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Centaurus Financial Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $16,853,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dimension Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimension Capital Management LLC now owns 13,968 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,478,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV boosted its position in Alphabet by 1.1% in the second quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV now owns 4,485 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $796,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Challenger Wealth Management grew its stake in Alphabet by 4.0% during the second quarter. Challenger Wealth Management now owns 1,335 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $237,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. REDW Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% during the second quarter. REDW Wealth LLC now owns 2,410 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $428,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GDS Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% during the second quarter. GDS Wealth Management now owns 2,325 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $412,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. HSBC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $335.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Alphabet from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $313.04.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $310.52 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $283.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $230.73. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $328.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.75 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. The company had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.00% and a net margin of 32.23%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.12 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 8th will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 8.28%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.50, for a total transaction of $10,383,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,272,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $725,942,020.50. This represents a 1.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.66, for a total transaction of $32,401.32. Following the sale, the director owned 18,104 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,750,916.64. The trade was a 0.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 225,528 shares of company stock valued at $61,296,884 in the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.