Captrust Financial Advisors Raises Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 674,113 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,839 shares during the quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $112,705,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 114,802,133 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,193,768,000 after purchasing an additional 5,655,022 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.3% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 33,334,082 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,573,125,000 after purchasing an additional 3,113,395 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.1% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 15,424,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,578,793,000 after purchasing an additional 1,291,274 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 636,008 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 12,327,458 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,261,103,000 after purchasing an additional 282,121 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $170.82 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $129.40 and a 1-year high of $193.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $169.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $171.84. The company has a market capitalization of $2.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.66, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.55 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total transaction of $75,437.46. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,820,779.40. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total value of $109,420.08. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,017 shares in the company, valued at $5,136,807.48. This trade represents a 2.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 206,795 shares of company stock worth $34,673,866 over the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. DA Davidson upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Pivotal Research upped their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group upped their target price on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five equities 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 MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average 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.