Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Acquired by Advisors Capital Management LLC

Advisors Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 413,701 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,816 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 1.0% of Advisors Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Advisors Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $72,907,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $78,839,544,000 after purchasing an additional 14,307,345 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 141,615,284 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $24,857,017,000 after acquiring an additional 4,224,497 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 11.4% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 43,865,520 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,783,364,000 after purchasing an additional 4,473,901 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Alphabet by 1.4% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 43,648,514 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,749,806,000 after acquiring an additional 593,345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1.9% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 39,792,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,153,481,000 after purchasing an additional 727,335 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.05, for a total transaction of $694,638.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 14,516 shares in the company, valued at $3,629,725.80. The trade was a 16.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.15, for a total transaction of $8,129,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,369,619 shares in the company, valued at $592,760,192.85. This represents a 1.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 225,072 shares of company stock worth $58,074,027. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $319.95 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $266.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $216.93. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $328.83. The stock has a market cap of $3.86 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a return on equity of 36.08% and a net margin of 32.23%.The company had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 8.28%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GOOGL. China Renaissance increased their price target on Alphabet from $207.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Alphabet from $236.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Citic Securities boosted their price target on Alphabet from $230.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $307.84.

Alphabet 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.