Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC Cuts Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 7.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 103,332 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 8,321 shares during the quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $17,138,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 30.0% during the third quarter. Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV now owns 32,204 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,341,000 after purchasing an additional 7,428 shares in the last quarter. Advisor Resource Council acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,743,000. Graypoint LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 0.7% in the third quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 63,311 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,500,000 after acquiring an additional 436 shares in the last quarter. Blake Schutter Theil Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,288,000. Finally, M&G PLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 11.8% in the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 2,354,516 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $390,850,000 after purchasing an additional 248,660 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GOOGL. Bank of America upped their price target on Alphabet from $206.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $204.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $208.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price 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. Seven research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.90.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $75,437.46. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at $2,820,779.40. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,182 shares in the company, valued at $4,421,948.46. The trade was a 8.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 184,295 shares of company stock valued at $30,698,791. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of GOOGL opened at $178.12 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $2.18 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.62, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $166.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $170.36. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $127.90 and a 1 year high of $191.75. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.55 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

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.