BLB&B Advisors LLC Acquires 6,812 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

BLB&B Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 185,418 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,812 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 1.6% of BLB&B Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position. BLB&B Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $30,752,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% during the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 400,144 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $66,365,000 after buying an additional 10,307 shares during the period. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.0% during the third quarter. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC now owns 13,282 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,203,000 after buying an additional 984 shares during the period. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.6% during the third quarter. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,261 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $375,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 77.6% during the third quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 63,699 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,564,000 after buying an additional 27,825 shares during the period. Finally, Pictet North America Advisors SA boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the third quarter. Pictet North America Advisors SA now owns 154,687 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $25,655,000 after buying an additional 1,141 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 transaction 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 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $4,421,948.46. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.35, for a total value of $3,652,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,182,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $354,310,204.75. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 230,244 shares of company stock valued at $37,776,954 in the last three months. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of GOOGL opened at $171.29 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $126.93 and a 52 week high of $191.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.72, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 1.95. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $162.43 and a 200-day moving average of $169.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.55 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.91 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GOOGL. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday. Guggenheim upped their price objective on Alphabet from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $210.00 target price (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday. Truist Financial upped their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Argus upped their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.51.

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.