Principal Securities Inc. Grows Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Principal Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 147,853 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,646 shares during the quarter. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $24,521,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Penobscot Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Penobscot Wealth Management now owns 1,297 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $215,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Manitou Investment Management Ltd. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 1.4% during the third quarter. Manitou Investment Management Ltd. now owns 291,185 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $48,293,000 after buying an additional 4,041 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR boosted its stake in Alphabet by 3.8% during the third quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 271,612 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $45,047,000 after buying an additional 9,971 shares during the last quarter. Norris Perne & French LLP MI grew its holdings in Alphabet by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Norris Perne & French LLP MI now owns 418,256 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $69,368,000 after buying an additional 4,255 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lincluden Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Lincluden Management Ltd. now owns 50,204 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,326,000 after acquiring an additional 469 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 24th. China Renaissance raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. JMP Securities upped their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on Alphabet from $206.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.90.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $178.88 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $127.90 and a 52-week high of $191.75. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $164.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $169.98. The company has a market capitalization of $2.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. Research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.41, for a total value of $1,862,805.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 319,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,765,168.06. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.41, for a total value of $1,862,805.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 319,966 shares in the company, valued at $56,765,168.06. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.36, for a total value of $3,990,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,084,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $369,672,512.16. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 207,495 shares of company stock worth $34,586,641 in the last quarter. 11.55% 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.