Bedell Frazier Investment Counselling LLC Grows Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Bedell Frazier Investment Counselling LLC raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,848 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. Bedell Frazier Investment Counselling LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $810,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 9,200.0% in the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at $37,000. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at $40,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 87.3% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the period. Finally, Slocum Gordon & Co LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at about $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.56.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $166.57 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $169.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $171.87. The company has a market capitalization of $2.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $129.40 and a 1 year high of $193.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its 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 firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.