HighTower Advisors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,247,845 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 51,045 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $375,864,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 114,802,133 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,193,768,000 after purchasing an additional 5,655,022 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 33,334,082 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,573,125,000 after purchasing an additional 3,113,395 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.1% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 15,424,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,578,793,000 after buying an additional 1,291,274 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 14,657,421 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,688,743,000 after buying an additional 636,008 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 12,327,458 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,261,103,000 after buying an additional 282,121 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $75,437.46. Following the sale, the director now owns 16,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,820,779.40. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total value of $429,587.55. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,421,948.46. This represents a 8.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 186,124 shares of company stock valued at $31,374,030. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.5 %

Alphabet stock opened at $172.98 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.12 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $129.40 and a fifty-two week high of $193.31. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $169.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $171.82.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued 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. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The company’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid 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 yield of 0.46%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup increased their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Alphabet in a report on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.56.

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.