Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Shares Bought by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 416,753,033 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,182,111 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.2% of Vanguard Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Vanguard Group Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $73,927,821,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. IFS Advisors LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 400.0% in the second quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Robbins Farley lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 60.0% during the 2nd quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 160 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Fairman Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 121.3% in the 2nd quarter. Fairman Group LLC now owns 177 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen increased their price target on Alphabet from $270.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $324.81.

Alphabet Stock Up 3.1%

Alphabet stock opened at $285.60 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $294.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The firm has a market cap of $3.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $258.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $211.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results 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 36.08%. The company had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.12 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 8.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total value of $4,408,034.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 42,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,635,348.70. The trade was a 29.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total transaction of $680,610.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,293 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,236,785. The trade was a 13.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 222,396 shares of company stock worth $54,151,037 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.