Gradient Investments LLC Acquires 1,951 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Gradient Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 25.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,618 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,951 shares during the quarter. Gradient Investments LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,338,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. boosted its position in Alphabet by 36.4% in the 2nd quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 37.9% in the 2nd quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 324 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the period. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 77.6% during the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 348 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the period. Finally, S&T Bank PA lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 40.2% during the second quarter. S&T Bank PA now owns 345 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on GOOGL. Moffett Nathanson upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $305.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $350.00 price objective (up from $290.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $224.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $290.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Phillip Securities raised Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. 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 stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $315.18.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $296.72 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $328.83. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $286.56 and a 200-day moving average of $232.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.58 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.00% and a net margin of 32.23%.The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 8.28%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.30, for a total value of $867,569.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 8,962 shares in the company, valued at $2,798,832.60. This represents a 23.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $308.19, for a total transaction of $184,914.00. Following the sale, the director owned 3,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,206,872.04. The trade was a 13.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 226,128 shares of company stock valued at $63,183,331 in the last quarter. 11.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.