D.B. Root & Company LLC Decreases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

D.B. Root & Company LLC lowered its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 14.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,146 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,398 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 0.8% of D.B. Root & Company LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. D.B. Root & Company LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,346,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. New Hampshire Trust increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 1,132 shares during the period. Berkshire Money Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter worth approximately $359,000. Schneider Downs Wealth Management Advisors LP raised its holdings in Alphabet by 58.4% in 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 lifted its stake in Alphabet by 4.5% in the third quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $771,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc grew its holdings in Alphabet by 10.7% during the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 6,305,717 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,037,196,000 after acquiring an additional 611,233 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $178.12 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $166.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $170.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.18 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.62, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $127.90 and a one year high of $191.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on GOOGL. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Loop Capital lifted their price target on Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Scotiabank raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $210.00 target price (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.90.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total value of $3,442,233.45. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 39,334 shares in the company, valued at $6,307,206.90. This represents a 35.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total value of $109,420.08. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,136,807.48. This represents a 2.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 184,295 shares of company stock valued at $30,698,791 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

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.