Heritage Investment Group Inc. Raises Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Heritage Investment Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 23.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,828 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 544 shares during the period. Heritage Investment Group Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $469,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its stake in Alphabet by 75.0% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth about $36,000. Denver PWM LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth about $41,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth about $53,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth about $55,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,061,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $364,259,266.02. The trade was a 1.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,182 shares in the company, valued at $4,421,948.46. This trade represents a 8.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,673,866. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $168.95 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $127.90 and a twelve month high of $191.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.03. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $168.47 and its 200 day moving average is $170.33.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly 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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.55 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share 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 issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on GOOGL. JMP Securities upped their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 price objective (up from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.90.

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.