First Business Financial Services Inc. Increases Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

First Business Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,444 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 213 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 0.6% of First Business Financial Services Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. First Business Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,044,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its position 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 valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth about $36,000. Denver PWM LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth about $41,000. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth about $53,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth about $55,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $169.23 on Friday. The company has a market cap 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 twelve month low of $127.90 and a twelve month high of $191.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a 50 day moving average of $168.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $170.33.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during 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 last year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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. This trade represents a 3.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total transaction 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 approximately $364,259,266.02. This represents a 1.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,673,866. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Loop Capital increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $206.00 to $210.00 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.90.

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.