Conning Inc. Acquires 3,560 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Conning Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 70,991 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,560 shares during the period. Conning Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $11,774,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 75.0% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Denver PWM LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $41,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 59.2% in the 1st quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 293 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $53,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $181.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $217.00 price objective (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.90.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $172.49 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $165.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $170.08. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a market capitalization of $2.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $127.90 and a 12-month high of $191.75.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.61%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total transaction of $109,420.08. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,136,807.48. The trade was a 2.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.41, for a total transaction of $1,862,805.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 319,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,765,168.06. The trade was a 3.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,471,141 over the last three months. 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.