Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Grows Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 72,779 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,389 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 1.0% of Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 17th largest position. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $12,070,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted 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 worth $15,279,000 after purchasing an additional 41,880 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.6% in the first 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 during the last quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd lifted its position in Alphabet by 14.3% during the first quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd now owns 144,393 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $21,793,000 after buying an additional 18,104 shares in the last quarter. Wintrust Investments LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 5.8% during the first quarter. Wintrust Investments LLC now owns 32,780 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,947,000 after buying an additional 1,803 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TCTC Holdings LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 63,255 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,547,000 after buying an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $164.76 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $127.90 and a one year high of $191.75. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $167.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $170.36. 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 cap of $2.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 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 in the prior year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total value of $3,975,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,061,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $364,259,266.02. This represents a 1.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total transaction of $109,420.08. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,136,807.48. The trade was a 2.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,673,866 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

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.