Hilltop Holdings Inc. Increases Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Hilltop Holdings Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 39.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 46,055 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 13,144 shares during the period. Hilltop Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,700,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9,200.0% during the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the second quarter valued at $37,000. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at $40,000. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 87.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total value of $109,420.08. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,136,807.48. This represents a 2.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.68, for a total transaction of $3,570,300.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,137,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $339,160,251.80. This represents a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 206,795 shares of company stock worth $34,673,866 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GOOG. Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. DA Davidson raised shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $170.49 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $169.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $171.82. The company has a market cap of $2.09 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.61, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $129.40 and a one year high of $193.31.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.55 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 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 paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.61%.

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.