Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Position Boosted by Gouws Capital LLC

Gouws Capital LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 57,395 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 6.5% of Gouws Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Gouws Capital LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $9,596,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,716,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,355,724,000 after acquiring an additional 7,470,042 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 19.7% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 84,171,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,815,986,000 after acquiring an additional 13,876,534 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 45,731,826 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,963,128,000 after acquiring an additional 979,083 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 35,558,778 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,414,179,000 after acquiring an additional 684,968 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 14,657,421 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,688,743,000 after acquiring an additional 636,008 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.6 %

Alphabet stock traded down $2.92 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $174.43. The company had a trading volume of 4,436,319 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,505,277. The company has a market capitalization of $2.14 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $129.40 and a 12 month high of $193.31. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $166.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $171.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total value of $1,898,190.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 330,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,741,643.48. This trade represents a 3.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,159,885 shares in the company, valued at $362,126,319.10. This trade represents a 1.03 % decrease in their position. 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 ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

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.