Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Holdings Lifted by Prospera Financial Services Inc

Prospera Financial Services Inc raised its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 12.9% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 122,923 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 13,998 shares during the period. Prospera Financial Services Inc’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $20,555,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC raised 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. bought a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter valued at about $37,000. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter worth about $40,000. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. increased its holdings 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 valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a legal 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, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total value of $3,772,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,159,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $362,126,319.10. The trade was a 1.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 206,795 shares of company stock worth $34,471,141. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Pivotal Research lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Five 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $176.80 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $129.40 and a one year high of $193.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $167.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $171.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.45, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its 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 business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be given 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.