Marietta Wealth Management LLC Grows Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Marietta Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 158,490 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,328 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 3.8% of Marietta Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Marietta Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $26,286,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 497,874,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $75,144,172,000 after buying an additional 4,064,073 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Alphabet by 14.4% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 57,803,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,724,251,000 after purchasing an additional 7,275,757 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Alphabet by 0.5% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 49,472,478 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,011,412,000 after purchasing an additional 238,403 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Alphabet by 1.7% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 35,412,299 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,344,778,000 after purchasing an additional 597,756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 1.8% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 23,465,190 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,274,184,000 after purchasing an additional 418,204 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,765,346. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,765,346. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.35, for a total value of $3,652,875.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,182,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $354,310,204.75. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 230,244 shares of company stock valued at $37,776,954 over the last three months. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $171.29 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $162.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $169.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $126.93 and a 52 week high of $191.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 1.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Pivotal Research upped their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Seaport Res Ptn raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, China Renaissance raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.51.

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.