Smith Group Asset Management LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Smith Group Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 3.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 209,679 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 6,950 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 2.9% of Smith Group Asset Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Smith Group Asset Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $34,775,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 497,874,324 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $75,144,172,000 after buying an additional 4,064,073 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 14.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 57,803,291 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $8,724,251,000 after acquiring an additional 7,275,757 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 49,472,478 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $9,011,412,000 after acquiring an additional 238,403 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position in Alphabet by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 35,412,299 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,344,778,000 after purchasing an additional 597,756 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 23,465,190 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,274,184,000 after purchasing an additional 418,204 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho lifted their target price on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Pivotal Research lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Loop Capital raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $205.90.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.3 %

GOOGL traded down $2.40 during trading on Friday, hitting $178.35. The company had a trading volume of 22,006,182 shares, compared to its average volume of 25,879,976. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $127.90 and a 1-year high of $191.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The company has a market cap of $2.18 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a 50-day moving average of $163.54 and a 200-day moving average of $169.67.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued 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 business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total transaction of $109,420.08. Following 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 represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 682 shares of the company'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 transaction of $109,420.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,017 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,136,807.48. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.03, for a total value of $130,424.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 30,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,894,812.72. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 242,552 shares of company stock worth $40,287,253 over the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.