Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. Boosts Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 197,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,641 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 0.8% of Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $33,031,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 360.1% in the 1st 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 acquiring an additional 15,848 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC increased its holdings 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 worth $4,980,000 after buying an additional 1,798 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 27.1% during the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,645 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,621,000 after buying an additional 2,269 shares during the last quarter. London & Capital Asset Management Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 14.7% during the 1st quarter. London & Capital Asset Management Ltd now owns 294,559 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $44,850,000 after buying an additional 37,722 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Talisman Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 7.8% during the 1st quarter. Talisman Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,509 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $382,000 after buying an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total value of $3,442,233.45. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 39,334 shares in the company, valued at $6,307,206.90. This represents a 35.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total value of $109,420.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,017 shares in the company, valued at $5,136,807.48. This represents a 2.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,673,866. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup upped their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG opened at $166.57 on Friday. 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 fifty-two week low of $129.40 and a fifty-two week high of $193.31. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $169.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $171.87. The firm has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. Alphabet’s revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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 issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

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.