Advisor Resource Council Takes $1.74 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Advisor Resource Council acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 10,510 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,743,000. Alphabet makes up about 0.8% of Advisor Resource Council’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. New Hampshire Trust increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.7% in the second quarter. New Hampshire Trust now owns 43,714 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,963,000 after purchasing an additional 1,132 shares during the period. Berkshire Money Management Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the first quarter valued at $359,000. Schneider Downs Wealth Management Advisors LP grew its position in Alphabet by 58.4% during the first quarter. Schneider Downs Wealth Management Advisors LP now owns 6,374 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $962,000 after buying an additional 2,351 shares in the last quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $771,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc increased its stake in Alphabet by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 6,305,717 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,037,196,000 after acquiring an additional 611,233 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Loop Capital lifted their price target on Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. DA Davidson started coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 price objective on the stock. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven equities research 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. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.90.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.75, for a total value of $123,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 28,524 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,385,565. This represents a 2.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,136,807.48. The trade was a 2.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 184,295 shares of company stock valued at $30,698,791. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of GOOGL opened at $178.12 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $127.90 and a 1-year high of $191.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $166.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $170.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.62, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.03.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued 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 0.45%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.61%.

About Alphabet

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.