Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is Palo Alto Wealth Advisors LLC’s Largest Position

Palo Alto Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 320.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 327,081 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 249,329 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 22.5% of Palo Alto Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its biggest position. Palo Alto Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $54,230,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. M&G PLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth about $2,240,000. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 5.3% in the 2nd 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 period. Metis Global Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 301,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $50,488,000 after purchasing an additional 4,292 shares in the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.2% in the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 63,545 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,624,000 after purchasing an additional 5,892 shares during the period. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton boosted its stake in Alphabet by 4.6% during the second 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 during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, 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 transaction of $3,772,350.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,159,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $362,126,319.10. This trade represents a 1.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total value of $3,442,233.45. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 39,334 shares in the company, valued at $6,307,206.90. This trade represents a 35.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,471,141. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on GOOG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report 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. Barclays increased their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $177.35 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $166.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $171.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.17 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $129.40 and a 52-week high of $193.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 EPS 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 given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

About Alphabet

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.