Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Purchased by Lafayette Investments Inc.

Lafayette Investments Inc. raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 18.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,579 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 547 shares during the quarter. Lafayette Investments Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $594,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 75.0% during the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the second quarter worth about $36,000. Denver PWM LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth about $41,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 59.2% in the first quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 293 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $53,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JMP Securities lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 price objective (up from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Alphabet from $204.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.51.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total transaction of $75,437.46. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,820,779.40. This 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 available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $75,437.46. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at $2,820,779.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total transaction of $1,898,190.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 330,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,741,643.48. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 232,052 shares of company stock worth $38,086,723. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $169.24 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 2.08. The company has a market capitalization of $2.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $127.90 and a 1 year high of $191.75. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $162.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $169.20.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

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.