Alphabet Inc. $GOOG is Costello Asset Management INC’s 6th Largest Position

Costello Asset Management INC lessened its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 53,689 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 178 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 3.6% of Costello Asset Management INC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Costello Asset Management INC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $9,524,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,570,922 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $64,299,725,000 after acquiring an additional 9,687,855 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 580,897.4% in the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 135,087,705 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $23,963,208,000 after acquiring an additional 135,064,454 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Alphabet by 9.9% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 102,232,997 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $15,971,861,000 after buying an additional 9,243,959 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in Alphabet by 5.4% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 21,345,784 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,334,852,000 after buying an additional 1,098,996 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Alphabet by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 20,380,073 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,183,979,000 after buying an additional 440,526 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $244.64 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.96 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.00. The company’s fifty day moving average is $227.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $190.61. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $256.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th were given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.44, for a total value of $149,664.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,716 shares in the company, valued at $1,425,799.04. This trade represents a 9.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.41, for a total transaction of $7,910,825.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,402,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $584,699,785.79. This trade represents a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 276,338 shares of company stock worth $59,062,683. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. KeyCorp set a $265.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Pivotal Research increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $245.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $241.00.

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.