Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC Raises Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 15.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 38,088 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 5,003 shares during the period. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,317,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 70.6% in the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 101,230 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $15,279,000 after acquiring an additional 41,880 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 31,171 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,705,000 after acquiring an additional 1,072 shares during the last quarter. Portland Global Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 4.2% in the 1st quarter. Portland Global Advisors LLC now owns 4,995 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $754,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System increased its holdings in Alphabet by 5.4% in the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 6,576,002 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $992,516,000 after acquiring an additional 337,795 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Interchange Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Interchange Capital Partners LLC now owns 13,104 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,975,000 after acquiring an additional 395 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total transaction of $1,898,190.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 330,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,741,643.48. This trade represents a 3.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of the 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 sale, the insider now owns 39,334 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,307,206.90. This represents a 35.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 184,295 shares of company stock valued at $30,698,791. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.2 %

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $175.98 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $127.90 and a 12 month high of $191.75. The stock has a market cap of $2.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.03. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $167.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $170.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the company posted $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $217.00 target price (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Alphabet from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 14th. Loop Capital boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $205.90.

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.