Aljian Capital Management LLC Raises Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Aljian Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 90,190 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,847 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 3.5% of Aljian Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Aljian Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $15,079,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,378,708,000. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Alphabet by 9.3% during 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 buying an additional 7,470,042 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Alphabet by 65.9% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 6,294,332 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,052,349,000 after acquiring an additional 2,500,621 shares in the last quarter. Vima LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 178,253.1% in the first quarter. Vima LLC now owns 2,001,122 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $304,691,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 6,610.0% in the second quarter. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,769,160 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $301,312,000 after acquiring an additional 1,742,794 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $173.89 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $2.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.06, a PEG ratio of 1.22 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. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $167.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $171.74.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. Alphabet’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.41, for a total value of $1,862,805.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 319,966 shares in the company, valued at $56,765,168.06. This represents a 3.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total transaction of $429,587.55. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,421,948.46. This trade represents a 8.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 206,795 shares of company stock worth $34,471,141 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note 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 report on Thursday, September 5th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.