Larson Financial Group LLC Increases Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Larson Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 23.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 51,922 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 10,014 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,681,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. M&G PLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at $2,240,000. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 5.3% in the second quarter. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $390,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1.4% during the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 301,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $50,488,000 after purchasing an additional 4,292 shares in the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 63,545 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,624,000 after buying an additional 5,892 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 11,366 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,097,000 after buying an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Barclays raised their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. 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 report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, DA Davidson raised shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.56.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $166.57 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.04. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $169.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $171.86. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $129.40 and a twelve month high of $193.31. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.55 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors 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 yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.68, for a total value of $3,570,300.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,137,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $339,160,251.80. This represents a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,421,948.46. This trade represents a 8.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 206,795 shares of company stock worth $34,673,866. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.