Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is CCLA Investment Management’s 3rd Largest Position

CCLA Investment Management lowered its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,101,121 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 26,631 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 3.3% of CCLA Investment Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. CCLA Investment Management’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $209,686,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. M&G PLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at $2,240,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 14.4% during the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 116,776 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,642,000 after purchasing an additional 14,738 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 1.4% during the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 301,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $50,488,000 after purchasing an additional 4,292 shares in the last quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP boosted its position in Alphabet by 172.9% during the third quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP now owns 91,237 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,254,000 after purchasing an additional 57,810 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 10.2% in the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 63,545 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,624,000 after purchasing an additional 5,892 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Up 3.1 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $196.98 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $131.55 and a 1 year high of $202.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The stock has a market cap of $2.41 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $184.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $174.55.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on GOOG. Pivotal Research raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total value of $559,856.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,085,531.55. This represents a 12.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $75,437.46. Following the transaction, the director now owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at $2,820,779.40. This represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 133,387 shares of company stock valued at $24,368,654 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.