Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 6.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 48,319 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,725 shares during the quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,079,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Alphabet by 19.7% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 84,171,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,815,986,000 after purchasing an additional 13,876,534 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,378,708,000. Capital International Investors raised its position in Alphabet by 9.3% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,716,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,355,724,000 after purchasing an additional 7,470,042 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Alphabet by 65.9% in the third 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 buying an additional 2,500,621 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vima LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 178,253.1% in the 1st quarter. Vima LLC now owns 2,001,122 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $304,691,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000,000 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total value of $109,420.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,136,807.48. The trade was a 2.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total value of $3,442,233.45. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 39,334 shares in the company, valued at $6,307,206.90. This trade represents a 35.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,471,141 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $176.29 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $129.40 and a twelve month high of $193.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The business’s 50 day moving average is $166.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $171.57. The company has a market capitalization of $2.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.55 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on GOOG shares. UBS Group raised their target price on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. 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.com, the stock currently 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.