Gradient Investments LLC Increases Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Gradient Investments LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 489,836 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,745 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 2.0% of Gradient Investments LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Gradient Investments LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $119,300,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOG. IFS Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 400.0% during the second quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Robbins Farley raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 60.0% in the 2nd quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 160 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 58.7% during the 2nd quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the period. University of Illinois Foundation acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Fairman Group LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 121.3% in the 2nd quarter. Fairman Group LLC now owns 177 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Down 3.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $298.06 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The stock has a market cap of $3.60 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a 50 day moving average of $287.17 and a 200-day moving average of $233.11. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $328.67.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.12 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Scotiabank set a $336.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Mizuho set a $325.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Truist Financial set a $350.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, December 5th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $335.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities set a $279.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $313.04.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $308.19, for a total value of $184,914.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,206,872.04. This represents a 13.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $299.80, for a total value of $9,743,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,239,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $671,437,776.20. The trade was a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 228,906 shares of company stock worth $63,984,117. Company insiders own 12.99% 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.