Oak Ridge Investments LLC Raises Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Oak Ridge Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 141,586 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 9,352 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 2.0% of Oak Ridge Investments LLC's holdings, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Oak Ridge Investments LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $23,482,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake 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 valued at $75,144,172,000 after buying an additional 4,064,073 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Alphabet by 14.4% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 57,803,291 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $8,724,251,000 after buying an additional 7,275,757 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in 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 valued at $9,011,412,000 after buying an additional 238,403 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1.7% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 35,412,299 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,344,778,000 after buying an additional 597,756 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in 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 valued at $4,274,184,000 after buying an additional 418,204 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.5 %

NASDAQ GOOGL traded down $2.74 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $178.88. 23,170,800 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 27,102,947. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $127.90 and a fifty-two week high of $191.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.19 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 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's fifty day simple moving average is $164.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $169.98.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during 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 company earned $1.55 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 10.61%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,017 shares in the company, valued at $5,136,807.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,017 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,136,807.48. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $75,437.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at $2,820,779.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 241,752 shares of company stock worth $40,156,829 in the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Alphabet from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 14th. JMP Securities raised their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Roth Mkm raised their price target on Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. 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, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $205.90.

Alphabet Company 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.