Red Spruce Capital LLC Trims Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Red Spruce Capital LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 62,248 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,941 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 6.2% of Red Spruce Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Red Spruce Capital LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $15,132,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Breakwater Investment Management increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.0% during the third quarter. Breakwater Investment Management now owns 4,228 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,028,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Beddow Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Beddow Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,510 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $445,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Gimbal Financial boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Gimbal Financial now owns 2,776 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $489,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Missouri Trust & Investment Co boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co now owns 16,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,981,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, Silver Coast Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Silver Coast Investments LLC now owns 4,317 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $761,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Down 3.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $296.72 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $286.56 and its 200 day moving average is $232.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.58 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.07. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $328.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.00% and a net margin of 32.23%.The business had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 8th were paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 8.28%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Alphabet from $270.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Truist Financial set a $350.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 5th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $315.00 price target (up from $250.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $290.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $315.18.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total transaction of $4,408,034.72. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,985 shares in the company, valued at $10,635,348.70. This represents a 29.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,337,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $662,526,494.12. This represents a 1.37% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 226,128 shares of company stock worth $63,183,331 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

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.