Valley Wealth Managers Inc. Grows Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Valley Wealth Managers Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 141,204 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,426 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.7% of Valley Wealth Managers Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Valley Wealth Managers Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $23,419,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Alphabet by 0.5% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 49,472,478 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,011,412,000 after acquiring an additional 238,403 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1.8% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 23,465,190 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,274,184,000 after acquiring an additional 418,204 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in Alphabet by 9.1% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 23,263,385 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,237,426,000 after acquiring an additional 1,949,476 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 43,005.6% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 18,743,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $31,086,250,000 after acquiring an additional 18,700,111 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Alphabet by 6.7% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 17,520,067 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,191,561,000 after acquiring an additional 1,102,269 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research increased their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Alphabet from $206.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Alphabet from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 14th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.90.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total transaction of $3,442,233.45. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 39,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,307,206.90. The trade was a 35.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.68, for a total value of $3,570,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,137,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $339,160,251.80. The trade was a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,673,866 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $168.95 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.41, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.03. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $168.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $170.33. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $127.90 and a 52-week high of $191.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 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.