Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Stock: Capital Investment Services of America Inc. Decreases Stake

Key Points

• Capital Investment Services of America cut its Alphabet stake by 9.3% in the third quarter, selling 3,148 shares and retaining 30,645 shares valued at about $10.5 million.
• Analysts maintain a broadly positive outlook: Alphabet has a consensus Buy rating and an average price target of $412.51, though some firms recently downgraded it to Hold.
• Alphabet’s latest quarter fell short of expectations, reporting EPS of $2.12 versus estimates of $3.02 and revenue of $127.58 billion versus estimates of $127.96 billion.

Capital Investment Services of America Inc. decreased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,645 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 3,148 shares during the period. Capital Investment Services of America Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,544,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Titleist Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. Titleist Asset Management LLC now owns 34,613 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $11,909,000 after buying an additional 2,096 shares during the period. Elefante Mark B increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% during the second quarter. Elefante Mark B now owns 43,733 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $15,629,000 after buying an additional 1,897 shares in the last quarter. Nwam LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 19.6% in the first quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 49,128 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $14,127,000 after acquiring an additional 8,055 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 287.4% in the first quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 3,886 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,063,000 after acquiring an additional 2,883 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Spinnaker Investment Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 51.4% in the second quarter. Spinnaker Investment Group LLC now owns 4,759 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,701,000 after acquiring an additional 1,616 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Zacks Research lowered Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Phillip Securities raised Alphabet from a "moderate buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $450.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Finally, Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-five have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $412.51.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.0%

Alphabet stock opened at $295.77 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.69. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $328.18 and a 200-day moving average of $338.01. The company has a market cap of $3.64 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.44, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.23. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $270.70 and a one year high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $3.02 by ($0.90). Alphabet had a return on equity of 43.33% and a net margin of 50.03%. The firm had revenue of $127.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $127.96 billion. On average, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 19.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 14th. Investors of record on Monday, December 7th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 7th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 4.59%.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Investors following GOOGL have been watching these stories:

• Positive Sentiment: Google made a faster, lower-cost Gemini model its everyday default and opened preorders for $395 Samsung-built AI glasses, scheduled to ship December 10. The product rollout highlights Alphabet’s effort to bring its AI services to more users and devices. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud’s reported 103% third-quarter revenue growth and tripling of operating income suggest that Alphabet’s large AI infrastructure investments may be generating returns, bolstering the case for spending despite its scale. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: An investor commentary argues that Alphabet’s substantial cash generation and business strengths provide reasons not to overreact to AI-related capital spending, though the returns on that spending remain a key issue for investors. Read More.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 83 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.45, for a total transaction of $28,257.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 19,076 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,494,424.20. This trade represents a 0.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 247 shares of company stock worth $79,238 in the last 90 days. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc. is a technology holding company whose largest business is Google. Founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google became part of Alphabet when the company reorganized its businesses under the holding-company structure in 2015. Google's products and services include Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Google Maps, Google Play and Google Cloud. The company also generates revenue from digital advertising and offers devices, subscriptions and artificial intelligence products and services.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding GOOGL? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.