Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC Increases Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,305 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 672 shares during the period. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,699,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 43,005.6% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 18,743,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $31,086,250,000 after buying an additional 18,700,111 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 587.4% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,690,326 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,772,991,000 after acquiring an additional 9,135,056 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 116.4% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 8,670,225 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,437,957,000 after acquiring an additional 4,662,809 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 18,810.2% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,434,260 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $807,700,000 after buying an additional 4,410,811 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 143.7% during the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,072,197 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,288,201,000 after purchasing an additional 4,170,229 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $171.49 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a market cap of $2.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $127.90 and a fifty-two week high of $191.75. The business has a fifty day moving average of $168.47 and a 200-day moving average of $170.31.

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. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.55 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.75, for a total transaction of $123,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 28,524 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,385,565. This represents a 2.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total value of $232,950.47. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,007,191.15. This trade represents a 5.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 186,124 shares of company stock valued at $31,374,030. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Alphabet from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 14th. JMP Securities increased their target price on shares of 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 reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. China Renaissance raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.