Howe & Rusling Inc. Raises Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Howe & Rusling Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 71,860 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,832 shares during the period. Howe & Rusling Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $12,014,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. NS Partners Ltd increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.7% during the third quarter. NS Partners Ltd now owns 698,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $116,741,000 after purchasing an additional 18,456 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 9.1% during the 3rd 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. Strategy Asset Managers LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 100.8% in the third quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC now owns 6,322 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,057,000 after acquiring an additional 3,173 shares during the last quarter. Sachetta LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 22.2% during the 3rd quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 6,653 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,112,000 after acquiring an additional 1,210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 15.6% during the third quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 311,802 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $52,130,000 after acquiring an additional 42,016 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group raised 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, Barclays boosted 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. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.56.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total transaction of $109,420.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,136,807.48. This trade represents a 2.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total value of $1,898,190.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 330,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,741,643.48. The trade was a 3.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 184,295 shares of company stock worth $30,698,791 over the last quarter. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $179.58 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market cap of $2.20 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.04. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $168.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $171.87. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $129.40 and a 52 week high of $193.31.

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 company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. Alphabet’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 firm posted $1.55 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 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.