Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Bought by Waverton Investment Management Ltd

Waverton Investment Management Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 11.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,927,652 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 190,805 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 5.3% of Waverton Investment Management Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Waverton Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $319,817,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 75.0% in the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth about $36,000. Denver PWM LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth approximately $41,000. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at $53,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at about $55,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.8 %

Alphabet stock opened at $167.65 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $2.05 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $167.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $170.34. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $127.90 and a 1-year high of $191.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results 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 analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. 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 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business’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 value of $1,898,190.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 330,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,741,643.48. The trade was a 3.08 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total transaction of $3,975,075.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,061,806 shares in the company, valued at $364,259,266.02. This represents a 1.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,673,866. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on GOOGL. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $206.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. China Renaissance raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.90.

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.