Cornerstone Capital Inc. Decreases Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Cornerstone Capital Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 17.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 181,777 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 39,510 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 3.4% of Cornerstone Capital Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Cornerstone Capital Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $32,035,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at about $4,317,606,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 17,667.7% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,245,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,686,640,000 after acquiring an additional 15,159,273 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $78,839,544,000 after acquiring an additional 14,307,345 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 51.7% in the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 31,817,684 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,607,232,000 after purchasing an additional 10,843,853 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 11.4% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 43,865,520 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,783,364,000 after purchasing an additional 4,473,901 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 954 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.00, for a total transaction of $302,418.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 11,740 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,721,580. This trade represents a 7.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.50, for a total value of $10,383,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,272,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $725,942,020.50. This trade represents a 1.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 226,128 shares of company stock valued at $61,326,372. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on GOOGL. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $330.00 price objective (up previously from $285.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on Alphabet from $265.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $240.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on Alphabet from $270.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Loop Capital raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $260.00 to $320.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $312.65.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.1%

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $321.27 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.88 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.07. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $276.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $224.09. 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.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted 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. The company had revenue of $102.35 billion for 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%. On average, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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