Carnegie Investment Counsel Sells 7,594 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Carnegie Investment Counsel lessened its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 660,620 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 7,594 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 3.0% of Carnegie Investment Counsel’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Carnegie Investment Counsel’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $160,597,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 516,559,609 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $91,033,300,000 after purchasing an additional 6,733,278 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Alphabet by 1.8% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $40,524,841,000 after buying an additional 4,008,374 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 141,615,284 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $24,857,017,000 after buying an additional 4,224,497 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth about $21,944,208,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 44,151,820 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,780,875,000 after buying an additional 503,306 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,829 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.89, for a total transaction of $5,614,173.81. Following the sale, the insider owned 42,972 shares in the company, valued at $13,531,453.08. This trade represents a 29.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.45, for a total transaction of $31,971.90. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 18,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,706,357.25. The trade was a 0.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 192,687 shares of company stock valued at $56,255,711 over the last three months. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on GOOGL. Citigroup reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. CICC Research boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $240.00 to $303.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Alphabet from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $350.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $317.76.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $315.15 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $301.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $243.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $328.83. The company has a market cap of $3.80 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.00% and a net margin of 32.23%.The company had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.28%.

Alphabet Profile

Alphabet Inc is the holding company created in 2015 to organize Google and a portfolio of businesses developing technologies beyond Google’s core internet services. Its principal operations are led by Google, which builds and operates consumer-facing products such as Google Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Gmail, Google Maps and Google Workspace, as well as advertising platforms (Google Ads and AdSense) that historically generate the majority of its revenue. Google also develops consumer hardware (Pixel phones, Nest smart-home devices, Chromecast) and developer and distribution platforms such as Google Play.

Beyond Google’s consumer and advertising businesses, Alphabet invests in enterprise and infrastructure offerings through Google Cloud, which provides cloud computing, data analytics and productivity services to businesses and institutions.