Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Holdings Increased by Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc.

Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,364 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 149 shares during the period. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,055,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 70.6% in the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 101,230 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,279,000 after acquiring an additional 41,880 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 3.6% during the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 31,171 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,705,000 after buying an additional 1,072 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 12.3% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 187,840 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $28,351,000 after buying an additional 20,572 shares during the last quarter. Sustainable Insight Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 146.4% in the first quarter. Sustainable Insight Capital Management LLC now owns 8,920 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,346,000 after buying an additional 5,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 513,406 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $77,488,000 after acquiring an additional 11,837 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the director now directly owns 319,966 shares in the company, valued at $56,765,168.06. This trade represents a 3.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed 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 dated Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total transaction of $3,772,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,159,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $362,126,319.10. This represents a 1.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 206,795 shares of company stock worth $34,471,141 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $172.49 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $165.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $170.13. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $127.90 and a twelve month high of $191.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The company has a market capitalization of $2.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.88, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 10.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Alphabet from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 14th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.90.

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.