Clarity Asset Management Inc. Trims Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Clarity Asset Management Inc. lessened its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 52.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 340 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 376 shares during the period. Clarity Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $56,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 222,555,548 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $36,910,838,000 after acquiring an additional 743,369 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 49,857,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,268,933,000 after purchasing an additional 1,237,385 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 49,472,478 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,011,412,000 after buying an additional 238,403 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 37,233,079 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,175,106,000 after buying an additional 523,416 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 23,465,190 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,274,184,000 after buying an additional 418,204 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $204.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 price objective (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $206.08.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.07, for a total value of $3,759,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,129,306 shares in the company, valued at $355,743,153.42. This represents a 1.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total transaction of $559,856.70. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,085,531.55. This represents a 12.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 178,957 shares of company stock valued at $31,358,687 in the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.6 %

GOOGL stock opened at $195.42 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.39 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $130.66 and a 52-week high of $201.42. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $172.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $170.97.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 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.