Keystone Financial Services Purchases 459 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Keystone Financial Services raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 10,466 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 459 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 0.7% of Keystone Financial Services’ portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Keystone Financial Services’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,750,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 19.7% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 84,171,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,815,986,000 after buying an additional 13,876,534 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth about $1,378,708,000. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,716,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,355,724,000 after acquiring an additional 7,470,042 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 65.9% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 6,294,332 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,052,349,000 after purchasing an additional 2,500,621 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Alphabet by 51.8% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,416,150 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $976,923,000 after purchasing an additional 2,190,795 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $181.97 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.23 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.04. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $164.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $171.27. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $129.40 and a one year high of $193.31.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.55 EPS. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. DA Davidson raised Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Pivotal Research upped their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total value of $5,570,188.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at $50,765,346. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total value of $5,570,188.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,765,346. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 700 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total value of $115,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 29,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,838,460. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 241,752 shares of company stock worth $40,156,829. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.