Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Acquires 23,594 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise boosted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 43.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 78,320 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 23,594 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 0.5% of Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $13,094,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. M&G PLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,240,000. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 5.3% in the second quarter. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $390,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1.4% in the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 301,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $50,488,000 after purchasing an additional 4,292 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.2% during the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 63,545 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,624,000 after purchasing an additional 5,892 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton boosted its position 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 Activity

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total value of $1,898,190.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 330,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $59,741,643.48. The trade was a 3.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,471,141. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on GOOG. UBS Group raised their price objective on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $176.80 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $167.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $171.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.16 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $129.40 and a 52 week high of $193.31.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released 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 company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid 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 dividend yield of 0.45%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

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.