L & S Advisors Inc Grows Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

L & S Advisors Inc boosted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,985 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 472 shares during the quarter. L & S Advisors Inc’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,669,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. Smithfield Trust Co boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% in the third quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 45,240 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,553,000 after buying an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $575,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.8% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 462,966 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $77,403,000 after purchasing an additional 12,818 shares in the last quarter. Running Point Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 29.7% during the third quarter. Running Point Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,047 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $175,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tradewinds LLC. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 3.3% during the third quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 42,092 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,037,000 after purchasing an additional 1,358 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.41, for a total transaction of $1,862,805.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 319,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,765,168.06. The trade was a 3.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.68, for a total transaction of $3,570,300.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,137,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $339,160,251.80. This trade represents a 1.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,673,866. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Down 4.4 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $169.49 on Friday. 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 1 year low of $129.40 and a 1 year high of $193.31. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $168.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $171.90. The stock has a market cap of $2.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.48, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm 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 was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business 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 $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on GOOG. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Five 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.