World Investment Advisors LLC Purchases 134,765 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

World Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 290.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 181,209 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 134,765 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 0.7% of World Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. World Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $30,054,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 13.1% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 923,329 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $152,128,000 after purchasing an additional 106,890 shares during the last quarter. Boyar Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 2.3% in the third quarter. Boyar Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,880 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,639,000 after buying an additional 225 shares during the period. Eaton Financial Holdings Company LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $4,097,000. Fulcrum Equity Management boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 42.1% during the third quarter. Fulcrum Equity Management now owns 2,924 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $485,000 after buying an additional 867 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 99,520 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $16,505,000 after buying an additional 5,267 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $188.51 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $173.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $171.21. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $130.66 and a one year high of $201.42. The stock has a market cap of $2.31 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its 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 net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.95, for a total value of $247,425.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 26,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,342,143.80. This represents a 5.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,802 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.47, for a total transaction of $2,780,226.94. Following the sale, the insider now owns 43,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,280,514.53. This trade represents a 27.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 178,957 shares of company stock worth $31,358,687. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on GOOGL. DA Davidson started coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 price objective on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $206.69.

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.