Kovack Advisors Inc. Buys 4,037 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Kovack Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 90,521 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,037 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 1.6% of Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $15,013,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,620 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $295,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Hengehold Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 7,224 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,316,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 75.0% during the 2nd 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 period. First PREMIER Bank lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 1,655 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $275,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Finally, MKT Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. MKT Advisors LLC now owns 7,363 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,221,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JMP Securities increased their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Roth Mkm increased their target price on Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.90.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $169.23 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $127.90 and a one year high of $191.75. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $168.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $170.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its 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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total value of $429,587.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,182 shares in the company, valued at $4,421,948.46. The trade was a 8.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total value 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 approximately $59,741,643.48. The trade was a 3.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 206,795 shares of company stock worth $34,673,866 over the last ninety days. Company 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.