Kestra Investment Management LLC Acquires New Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,149 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $526,000.

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

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $170.49 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $2.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.61, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $129.40 and a 12 month high of $193.31. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $169.98 and a 200 day moving average of $171.82. 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:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company 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 business posted $1.55 earnings per share. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total value of $3,975,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,061,806 shares in the company, valued at $364,259,266.02. This trade represents a 1.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total transaction of $429,587.55. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,182 shares in the company, valued at $4,421,948.46. This trade represents a 8.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 206,795 shares of company stock worth $34,673,866. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GOOG. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. DA Davidson raised Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group raised their target price on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Pivotal Research upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.56.

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.