Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stake Boosted by Financial Counselors Inc.

Financial Counselors Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 729,894 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 22,102 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 1.8% of Financial Counselors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $121,053,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 43,005.6% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 18,743,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $31,086,250,000 after acquiring an additional 18,700,111 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 587.4% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,690,326 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,772,991,000 after acquiring an additional 9,135,056 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Alphabet by 116.4% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 8,670,225 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,437,957,000 after acquiring an additional 4,662,809 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its stake in Alphabet by 18,810.2% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,434,260 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $807,700,000 after acquiring an additional 4,410,811 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 143.7% during the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,072,197 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,288,201,000 after acquiring an additional 4,170,229 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL opened at $185.17 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $2.27 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $129.68 and a 1 year high of $191.75. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $169.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $170.21.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.55 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current 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 given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Roth Mkm lifted their price target on Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 price target (up from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Alphabet from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 14th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $206.03.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.84, for a total value of $230,804.28. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,927,257.72. The trade was a 4.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,802 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.47, for a total value of $2,780,226.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,280,514.53. This represents a 27.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 197,923 shares of company stock worth $34,244,676 over the last three months. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

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.