Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC Grows Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 62.4% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,480 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,337 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $577,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 75.0% in the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. Denver PWM LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $41,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth about $53,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth approximately $55,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Guggenheim increased their price target on Alphabet from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 price target (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. DA Davidson assumed coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 price objective for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.90.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.41, for a total value of $1,862,805.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 319,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,765,168.06. This represents a 3.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total value of $429,587.55. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,182 shares in the company, valued at $4,421,948.46. This trade represents a 8.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,471,141 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $172.49 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $165.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $170.22. The stock has a market cap of $2.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.88, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $127.90 and a 12 month high of $191.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

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.