Candriam S.C.A. Grows Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Candriam S.C.A. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 950,766 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 35,977 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.0% of Candriam S.C.A.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $168,664,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,901,000 after acquiring an additional 6,410 shares in the last quarter. Cable Hill Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. Cable Hill Partners LLC now owns 9,781 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,574,000 after purchasing an additional 624 shares during the last quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 7.6% during the 1st quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 21,498 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,359,000 after purchasing an additional 1,518 shares during the last quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the first quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC now owns 1,211,074 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $189,206,000 after purchasing an additional 8,617 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FWG Holdings LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.6% in the first quarter. FWG Holdings LLC now owns 8,069 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,308,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of several analyst reports. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Pivotal Research boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $300.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Raymond James Financial set a $275.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. DA Davidson set a $825.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $285.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $324.81.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 954 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.33, for a total transaction of $269,342.82. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 14,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,098,584.61. This represents a 6.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.48, for a total transaction of $9,213,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,337,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $662,526,494.12. The trade was a 1.37% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 221,796 shares of company stock valued at $53,983,001. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $287.43 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.66 and a 1-year high of $292.36. The firm has a market cap of $3.47 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a 50-day moving average of $256.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $208.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 36.08%. The business’s revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.12 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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