Prudent Investors Network Inc. Boosts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Prudent Investors Network Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 71.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,488 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,041 shares during the quarter. Prudent Investors Network Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $416,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Alphabet by 360.1% in the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 20,249 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,083,000 after buying an additional 15,848 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 5.8% in the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 32,706 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,980,000 after buying an additional 1,798 shares during the last quarter. Integrity Financial Corp WA lifted its position in Alphabet by 25.7% in the first quarter. Integrity Financial Corp WA now owns 8,798 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,340,000 after buying an additional 1,801 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. lifted its position in Alphabet by 1.1% in the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 1,328,314 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $202,249,000 after buying an additional 14,519 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 3.0% in the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 595,799 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $90,716,000 after buying an additional 17,619 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 4.0 %

Alphabet stock opened at $178.33 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $129.40 and a 52 week high of $193.31. The company has a market capitalization of $2.20 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.04. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $164.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $170.89.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.55 earnings per share. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.97 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.03, for a total value of $130,424.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,894,812.72. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.36, for a total transaction of $3,990,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,084,306 shares in the company, valued at approximately $369,672,512.16. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.03, for a total value of $130,424.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 30,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,894,812.72. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 232,052 shares of company stock valued at $38,424,448. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GOOG. Wolfe Research upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Scotiabank began coverage on Alphabet in a report on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price objective for the company. DA Davidson upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Profile

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.