Pittenger & Anderson Inc. Increases Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Pittenger & Anderson Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 38.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,788 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Pittenger & Anderson Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $299,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 9,200.0% in the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at $37,000. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter worth about $40,000. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP bought a new stake in Alphabet during the second quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 62.5% during the 2nd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 260 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,765,346. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the business’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 value of $429,587.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total value of $5,570,188.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at $50,765,346. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 209,552 shares of company stock worth $34,433,848. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on GOOG. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 target price on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Five investment 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.56.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $171.41 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $129.40 and a 12-month high of $193.31. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $163.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $170.83.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $88.27 billion for 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 for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.55 EPS. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 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.