Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Acquires 189,067 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,053,888 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 189,067 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 1.9% of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $927,000,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOG. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 6.4% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 3,101,712 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $568,915,000 after purchasing an additional 186,120 shares during the last quarter. MAS Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth about $224,000. Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 67.7% in the 2nd quarter. Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,259 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $414,000 after buying an additional 912 shares in the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 19.4% in the 2nd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 95,295 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $17,479,000 after acquiring an additional 15,496 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Elite Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 33.1% during the 2nd quarter. Elite Wealth Management Inc. now owns 46,609 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,549,000 after acquiring an additional 11,602 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $164.64 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a 50-day moving average of $166.26 and a 200-day moving average of $166.79. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $121.46 and a twelve month high of $193.31. The firm has a market cap of $2.03 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The firm had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.44 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on GOOG shares. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Rosenblatt Securities cut shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. DA Davidson raised shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $182.86.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.74, for a total value of $4,201,650.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,227,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $415,941,874.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.74, for a total transaction of $4,201,650.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,227,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $415,941,874.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.75, for a total value of $123,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 28,524 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,385,565. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 202,667 shares of company stock worth $33,964,256. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Company 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.