Black Diamond Financial LLC Boosts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Black Diamond Financial LLC raised its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,680 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 427 shares during the quarter. Black Diamond Financial LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,618,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. M&G PLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at $2,240,000. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $390,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 301,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $50,488,000 after acquiring an additional 4,292 shares in the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 63,545 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,624,000 after acquiring an additional 5,892 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.6% during the second quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 11,366 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,097,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,765,168.06. The trade was a 3.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total value of $3,772,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,159,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $362,126,319.10. The trade was a 1.03 % 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 $34,471,141 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG stock opened at $177.35 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 has a 50-day moving average of $166.20 and a 200 day moving average of $171.57. The company has a market cap of $2.17 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.52, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its 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 return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.55 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on GOOG shares. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, October 11th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 target price for the company. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, 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 report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five investment 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 MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.56.

About Alphabet

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.