Ascent Wealth Partners LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Ascent Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 32.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 80,785 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 19,944 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 1.9% of Ascent Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $13,398,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its stake in Alphabet by 75.0% during the second 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 last quarter. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Denver PWM LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth approximately $41,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $53,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at $55,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. JMP Securities increased their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 price target (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $204.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total transaction of $3,442,233.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 39,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,307,206.90. The trade was a 35.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total transaction of $1,898,190.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 330,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,741,643.48. This represents a 3.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 184,295 shares of company stock valued at $30,698,791 in the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.2 %

GOOGL stock opened at $175.98 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $167.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $170.40. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $127.90 and a 12 month high of $191.75. The company has a market capitalization of $2.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 in the prior year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm 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 of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. 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.