Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Has $40.59 Million Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 24.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 228,819 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 45,140 shares during the quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $40,590,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 9,687,855 shares during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 580,897.4% during 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. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 0.4% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 107,760,033 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,022,926,000 after acquiring an additional 441,177 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Alphabet by 9.9% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 102,232,997 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,971,861,000 after acquiring an additional 9,243,959 shares during the period. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 6.4% in the second quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 35,357,943 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,272,146,000 after purchasing an additional 2,117,990 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $276.98 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $257.84 and its 200-day moving average is $209.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.34 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.32, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $292.36.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. The business had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 36.08% and a net margin of 32.23%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.12 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total value of $4,408,034.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 42,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,635,348.70. This trade represents a 29.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.48, for a total transaction of $9,213,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,337,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $662,526,494.12. This trade represents a 1.37% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 221,796 shares of company stock valued at $53,983,001 over the last three months. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Alphabet from $300.00 to $345.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Alphabet from $285.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $270.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Scotiabank set a $336.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $324.81.

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.