Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. Grows Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 8.7% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 129,124 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 10,336 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 1.4% of Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $21,588,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 9,200.0% during the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the period. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth about $37,000. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth about $40,000. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP purchased a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP grew its stake in Alphabet by 62.5% during the 2nd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 260 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was 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 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total transaction of $1,898,190.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 330,466 shares in the company, valued at $59,741,643.48. This trade represents a 0.00 % 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, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was 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 approximately $5,136,807.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 230,244 shares of company stock valued at $37,776,954 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $172.65 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 2.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $128.11 and a 1-year high of $193.31. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $163.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $170.43.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released 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 business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.55 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.83 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

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.