Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. Acquires 85 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 56,064 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $9,373,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth about $37,000. HWG Holdings LP bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $40,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. grew its position in 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 worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Slocum Gordon & Co LLP bought a new stake in Alphabet during the second quarter worth approximately $44,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. DA Davidson upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $170.49 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $169.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $171.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.09 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.61, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.04. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $129.40 and a fifty-two week high of $193.31.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 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 firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.55 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 29,182 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,421,948.46. The trade was a 8.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,061,806 shares in the company, valued at approximately $364,259,266.02. The trade was a 1.08 % 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 over 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.