Caprock Group LLC Trims Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Caprock Group LLC lowered its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 192,538 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 3,351 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 1.2% of Caprock Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Caprock Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $32,191,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Aviance Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,356 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,735,000 after buying an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Windle Wealth LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 8.6% in the third quarter. Windle Wealth LLC now owns 25,747 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,305,000 after acquiring an additional 2,030 shares during the period. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.6% during the third quarter. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. now owns 131,470 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $21,980,000 after acquiring an additional 3,307 shares during the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at $87,000. Finally, Tidemark LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Tidemark LLC now owns 2,023 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $338,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. DA Davidson raised shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, October 11th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup boosted their target price on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.7 %

GOOG stock opened at $176.80 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $167.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $171.80. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $129.40 and a twelve month high of $193.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market cap of $2.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.45, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.55 EPS. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total transaction of $3,772,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,159,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $362,126,319.10. This trade represents a 1.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total value of $429,587.55. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,421,948.46. The trade was a 8.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 206,795 shares of company stock worth $34,471,141 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Alphabet

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.