Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s 4th Largest Position

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 293,152 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,019 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 2.6% of First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $48,619,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. New Hampshire Trust grew its stake in Alphabet by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. New Hampshire Trust now owns 43,714 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,963,000 after buying an additional 1,132 shares during the last quarter. Berkshire Money Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the first quarter worth about $359,000. Schneider Downs Wealth Management Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 58.4% during the first quarter. Schneider Downs Wealth Management Advisors LP now owns 6,374 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $962,000 after acquiring an additional 2,351 shares in the last quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% during the third quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $771,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 6,305,717 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,037,196,000 after purchasing an additional 611,233 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GOOGL. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Loop Capital upped their target price on Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Roth Mkm increased their price objective on Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their target price on Alphabet from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.90.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $180.35 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $163.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $169.74. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $127.90 and a 52-week high of $191.75. The company has a market capitalization of $2.21 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.03. 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 (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. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 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 paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total transaction of $429,587.55. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,182 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,421,948.46. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total transaction of $3,772,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,159,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $362,126,319.10. This represents a 0.00 % 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 2,835 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,421,948.46. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 241,752 shares of company stock valued at $40,156,829. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Alphabet

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.