Canton Hathaway LLC Sells 806 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Canton Hathaway LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.5% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 13,825 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 806 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 0.5% of Canton Hathaway LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Canton Hathaway LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,436,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $78,839,544,000 after acquiring an additional 14,307,345 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 11.4% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 43,865,520 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,783,364,000 after purchasing an additional 4,473,901 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1.4% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 43,648,514 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,749,806,000 after purchasing an additional 593,345 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 39,792,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,153,481,000 after buying an additional 727,335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 38,556,577 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,962,389,000 after buying an additional 104,859 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $286.71 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.46 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.28, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $255.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $207.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $292.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 36.08% and a net margin of 32.23%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.28%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total transaction of $680,610.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 17,293 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,236,785. This trade represents a 13.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total transaction of $4,408,034.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 42,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,635,348.70. This trade represents a 29.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 221,796 shares of company stock valued at $53,983,001 in the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $280.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. CIBC boosted their target price on Alphabet to $315.00 in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Moffett Nathanson boosted their price target on Alphabet from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $270.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $304.10.

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.