Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Holdings Lifted by Capital Investment Counsel LLC

Capital Investment Counsel LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,073 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. Capital Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $681,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 0.7% in the second quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,985 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,465,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. PCG Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. PCG Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,880 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $345,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV now owns 3,636 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $667,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV now owns 2,944 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $540,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Shira Ridge Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Shira Ridge Wealth Management now owns 15,490 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,841,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $166.57 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $169.10 and a 200-day moving average of $171.86. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $129.40 and a one year high of $193.31. The stock has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total transaction of $3,975,075.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,061,806 shares in the company, valued at approximately $364,259,266.02. The trade was a 1.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total value of $429,587.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,421,948.46. This trade represents a 8.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 206,795 shares of company stock worth $34,673,866. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup increased their target price on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Pivotal Research lifted their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

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.