West Family Investments Inc. Buys 2,262 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

West Family Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 7.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,827 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,262 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 1.8% of West Family Investments Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. West Family Investments Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,279,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. LMR Partners LLP bought a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the second quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Denver PWM LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $53,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. JMP Securities boosted their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Loop Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.90.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,421,948.46. This trade represents a 8.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total transaction of $1,898,190.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 330,466 shares in the company, valued at $59,741,643.48. This trade represents a 3.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 163,624 shares of company stock worth $27,803,730 in the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.1 %

Alphabet stock opened at $171.34 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The company has a market capitalization of $2.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.72, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $168.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $170.26. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $127.90 and a one year high of $191.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.55 EPS. On average, 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. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.61%.

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.