Absher Wealth Management LLC Acquires 4,946 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Absher Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 3.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 137,507 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 4,946 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 2.9% of Absher Wealth Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Absher Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $22,806,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 497,874,324 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $75,144,172,000 after purchasing an additional 4,064,073 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 14.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 7,275,757 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% in the second 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 boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 35,412,299 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,344,778,000 after acquiring an additional 597,756 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 23,465,190 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,274,184,000 after acquiring an additional 418,204 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on GOOGL. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. 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, November 6th. Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, 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 research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $205.90.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total value of $3,442,233.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 39,334 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,307,206.90. The trade was a 35.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 700 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total value of $115,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 29,324 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,838,460. This represents a 2.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 207,495 shares of company stock valued at $34,586,641 over the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL traded down $3.30 during trading on Thursday, hitting $175.58. 30,994,235 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 27,120,920. The firm has a market cap of $2.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.03. The stock's fifty day moving average is $164.82 and its 200 day moving average is $170.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $127.90 and a one year high of $191.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 business earned $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Alphabet Profile

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.