JPMorgan Chase & Co. Increases Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,567,275 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 0.8% of JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest position. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,559,240,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Lantz Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.8% during the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 4,622 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $842,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. Spectrum Wealth Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $218,000. Vance Wealth Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Vance Wealth Inc. now owns 3,089 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $563,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Investment Planning Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at $440,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in Alphabet by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,994,087 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $727,523,000 after purchasing an additional 32,830 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL traded down $0.51 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $195.60. The stock had a trading volume of 11,820,650 shares, compared to its average volume of 27,573,871. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $176.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $171.74. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $130.66 and a 52 week high of $201.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.39 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.94, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $75,437.46. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,820,779.40. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,802 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.47, for a total transaction of $2,780,226.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 43,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,280,514.53. This represents a 27.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 178,257 shares of company stock worth $31,243,187 in the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Roth Mkm upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $206.69.

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.