Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by Virtue Capital Management LLC

Virtue Capital Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 8.4% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 14,185 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,301 shares during the quarter. Virtue Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,353,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 43,005.6% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 18,743,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $31,086,250,000 after purchasing an additional 18,700,111 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 587.4% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,690,326 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,772,991,000 after buying an additional 9,135,056 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 116.4% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 8,670,225 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,437,957,000 after buying an additional 4,662,809 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its stake in Alphabet by 18,810.2% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,434,260 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $807,700,000 after acquiring an additional 4,410,811 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in Alphabet by 91.0% in the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 7,928,470 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,450,599,000 after acquiring an additional 3,777,527 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. DA Davidson started coverage on Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 target price on the stock. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research increased their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $206.69.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 12.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.07, for a total value of $3,759,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,129,306 shares in the company, valued at $355,743,153.42. This represents a 1.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 178,957 shares of company stock worth $31,358,687. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $188.40 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.31 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $173.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $171.09. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $130.66 and a 12 month high of $201.42.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

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.