Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Purchased by Cerity Partners LLC

Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 12.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,480,769 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 278,134 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 0.9% of Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 17th largest position. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $414,638,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of GOOG. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 8.6% during the third quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 197,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $33,031,000 after acquiring an additional 15,641 shares during the period. Certified Advisory Corp grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Certified Advisory Corp now owns 17,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,892,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the period. Waddell & Associates LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC now owns 13,471 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,252,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 8.6% in the third quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 20,369 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,406,000 after buying an additional 1,618 shares during the period. Finally, GenTrust LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 95.4% during the third quarter. GenTrust LLC now owns 8,491 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,420,000 after buying an additional 4,146 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,137,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $339,160,251.80. The trade was a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total value of $109,420.08. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,136,807.48. The trade was a 2.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,673,866 over the last three months. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the topic of several recent research reports. Pivotal Research lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. DA Davidson upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. UBS Group upped their price target on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Five research 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 company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.6 %

Alphabet stock opened at $166.57 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.09, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $129.40 and a 52 week high of $193.31. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $169.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $171.87.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.55 EPS. Alphabet’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Alphabet Company 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.