Aviance Capital Partners LLC Boosts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Aviance Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,356 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 163 shares during the quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,735,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 360.1% during the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 20,249 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,083,000 after purchasing an additional 15,848 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 32,706 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,980,000 after buying an additional 1,798 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 19.0% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 86,040 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,100,000 after buying an additional 13,756 shares during the period. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 50.0% in the 1st quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 330 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan David Investments LLC IL raised its holdings in Alphabet by 43.6% during the 1st quarter. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL now owns 7,803 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,188,000 after acquiring an additional 2,371 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total transaction of $429,587.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,421,948.46. This represents a 8.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total value of $3,772,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,159,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $362,126,319.10. This represents a 1.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,471,141 over the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $176.80 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $167.56 and its 200 day moving average is $171.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $129.40 and a 52 week high of $193.31. The stock has a market cap of $2.16 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.45, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results 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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.55 EPS. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 10.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays raised their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Scotiabank assumed coverage on Alphabet in a research report on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price objective on the stock. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.56.

About Alphabet

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.