Castleark Management LLC Sells 23,843 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Castleark Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 480,009 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 23,843 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 3.2% of Castleark Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Castleark Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $79,609,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Goldstream Capital Management Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 35.3% during the third quarter. Goldstream Capital Management Ltd now owns 2,300 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $382,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 19.3% in the 3rd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,036,909 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $171,971,000 after purchasing an additional 167,739 shares during the period. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% in the third quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 96,319 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $15,975,000 after purchasing an additional 1,045 shares in the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 25.8% during the third quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 1,049,980 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $159,156,000 after buying an additional 215,469 shares during the period. Finally, Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 13.2% during the third quarter. Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 4,960 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $823,000 after buying an additional 580 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. China Renaissance raised shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $206.08.

View Our Latest Research Report on GOOGL

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL traded up $6.84 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $196.66. The company's stock had a trading volume of 44,892,771 shares, compared to its average volume of 27,470,133. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The company has a market cap of $2.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. The business's 50 day moving average price is $172.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $170.80. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $130.66 and a fifty-two week high of $199.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 earned $1.55 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid 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 yield of 0.41%. Alphabet's payout ratio is 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.63, for a total transaction of $3,614,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,114,885 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $339,713,977.55. The trade was a 1.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total value of $291,330.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 23,324 shares in the company, valued at $4,529,987.28. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 198,623 shares of company stock valued at $34,413,006 in the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.

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