Principal Securities Inc. Boosts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Principal Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 99,755 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,120 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $16,678,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 5.3% during the second quarter. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $390,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the period. Oak Ridge Investments LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 4.6% during the first quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 187,229 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $28,508,000 after purchasing an additional 8,201 shares during the period. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton boosted its position in Alphabet by 4.6% during the second quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 11,366 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,097,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares during the period. Alliance Wealth Management Group boosted its position in Alphabet by 93.6% during the first quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group now owns 3,910 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $595,000 after purchasing an additional 1,890 shares during the period. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its position in Alphabet by 4.6% during the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 2,628,176 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $439,405,000 after purchasing an additional 115,716 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total value of $429,587.55. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,182 shares in the company, valued at $4,421,948.46. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.35, for a total transaction of $3,652,875.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,182,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $354,310,204.75. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total transaction of $429,587.55. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,182 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,421,948.46. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 230,244 shares of company stock valued at $37,776,954 over the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price objective for the company. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $172.65 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $128.11 and a 52 week high of $193.31. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $163.81 and its 200 day moving average is $170.43. The company has a market cap of $2.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.90, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

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.