Gouws Capital LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Gouws Capital LLC grew its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.1% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 57,395 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 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.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $37,000. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 87.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the period. Finally, Slocum Gordon & Co LLP purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $44,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GOOG. Scotiabank began coverage on Alphabet in a report on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 target price for the company. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of GOOG traded down $2.92 during trading hours 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 one year low of $129.40 and a one year high of $193.31. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $166.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $171.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.55 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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 given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.41, for a total value of $1,862,805.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 319,966 shares in the company, valued at $56,765,168.06. This represents a 3.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,159,885 shares in the company, valued at $362,126,319.10. The trade was a 1.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,471,141. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.