Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Bought by Welch Group LLC

Welch Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 7.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 57,297 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 3,928 shares during the period. Welch Group LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $9,503,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 43,005.6% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 18,743,594 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $31,086,250,000 after acquiring an additional 18,700,111 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 587.4% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,690,326 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,772,991,000 after purchasing an additional 9,135,056 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in 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 valued at $8,724,251,000 after purchasing an additional 7,275,757 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 116.4% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 8,670,225 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,437,957,000 after buying an additional 4,662,809 shares during the period. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 18,810.2% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,434,260 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $807,700,000 after buying an additional 4,410,811 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GOOGL. Loop Capital upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. China Renaissance raised shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on Alphabet from $206.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $205.90.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL traded down $2.40 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $178.35. 22,006,182 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 25,879,976. The stock has a market cap of $2.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $127.90 and a 1-year high of $191.75. The company has a 50 day moving average of $163.54 and a 200-day moving average of $169.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 EPS 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 12th. The shares were 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 $4,894,812.72. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at $50,765,346. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 12th. The shares were 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 owns 30,024 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,894,812.72. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 242,552 shares of company stock valued at $40,287,253 in the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.