Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 48.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,967 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,293 shares during the period. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $663,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 114,802,133 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $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 grew its position in Alphabet by 10.3% during the third 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 buying an additional 3,113,395 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Alphabet by 65.9% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 6,294,332 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,052,349,000 after acquiring an additional 2,500,621 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 27.8% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 7,499,245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,375,512,000 after acquiring an additional 1,632,691 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 182.1% during the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 2,526,055 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $422,331,000 after acquiring an additional 1,630,701 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $193.63 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $172.74 and its 200 day moving average is $172.12. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $131.06 and a 52 week high of $196.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a market cap of $2.37 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.68, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.55 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, October 11th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.56.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total transaction of $6,870,532.68. Following the transaction, the director now owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at $52,329,576.64. The trade was a 11.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.84, for a total transaction of $230,804.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,927,257.72. This trade represents a 4.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 197,123 shares of company stock valued at $34,121,676. 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.