Affinity Investment Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Affinity Investment Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,763 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 171 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.2% of Affinity Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 24th largest position. Affinity Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,785,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. CacheTech Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. CacheTech Inc. now owns 17,505 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,903,000 after purchasing an additional 973 shares during the last quarter. Americana Partners LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 5.6% during the third quarter. Americana Partners LLC now owns 107,488 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $17,827,000 after buying an additional 5,735 shares during the period. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.2% during the third quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC now owns 31,055 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,150,000 after buying an additional 374 shares during the last quarter. Fonville Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 24.6% during the third quarter. Fonville Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,994 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $828,000 after buying an additional 986 shares during the last quarter. Finally, W Advisors LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 15.4% in the third quarter. W Advisors LLC now owns 5,940 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $985,000 after acquiring an additional 794 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total transaction of $75,437.46. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,820,779.40. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total value of $3,772,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,159,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $362,126,319.10. The trade was a 1.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,471,141 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOGL. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.90.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $175.58 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.29, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.03. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $164.82 and its 200 day moving average is $170.04. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $127.90 and a fifty-two week high of $191.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95.

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. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Alphabet Company 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.