Leavell Investment Management Inc. Raises Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Leavell Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 35,003 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 752 shares during the period. Leavell Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,805,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake 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 buying an additional 41,880 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 31,171 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,705,000 after purchasing an additional 1,072 shares in the last quarter. Midwest Professional Planners LTD. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 42.8% during the 1st quarter. Midwest Professional Planners LTD. now owns 5,598 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $845,000 after purchasing an additional 1,679 shares in the last quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 61,152 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,230,000 after purchasing an additional 1,202 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Maple Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. Maple Capital Management Inc. now owns 8,216 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,240,000 after purchasing an additional 524 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $206.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Roth Mkm boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.90.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.68, for a total transaction of $3,570,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,137,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $339,160,251.80. This trade represents a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total transaction of $3,442,233.45. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 39,334 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,307,206.90. This represents a 35.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,673,866 in the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 4.6 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $167.83 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.05 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.03. 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 fifty day moving average of $167.50 and a 200 day moving average of $170.38. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $127.90 and a fifty-two week high of $191.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.61%.

Alphabet 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.