Private Client Services LLC Purchases 1,337 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Private Client Services LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 15.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,099 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,337 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.0% of Private Client Services LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Private Client Services LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,923,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 5.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 114,802,133 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,193,768,000 after purchasing an additional 5,655,022 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 103,557,486 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $17,247,208,000 after buying an additional 259,213 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 33,334,082 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,573,125,000 after buying an additional 3,113,395 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 9.1% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 15,424,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,578,793,000 after acquiring an additional 1,291,274 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Alphabet by 4.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 14,657,421 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,688,743,000 after acquiring an additional 636,008 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock traded down $0.12 on Wednesday, reaching $196.59. 8,214,142 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,984,667. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.41 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.07, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a 50 day moving average of $182.87 and a 200 day moving average of $174.23. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $131.55 and a 52 week high of $202.88.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.55 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.95, for a total transaction of $247,425.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 26,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,342,143.80. This trade represents a 5.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 155,887 shares of company stock worth $27,996,356 over the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Six 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.