Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Position Raised by Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc.

Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 211,486 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,583 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 1.9% of Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $35,358,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. M&G PLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the third quarter worth approximately $2,240,000. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 301,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $50,488,000 after buying an additional 4,292 shares in the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.2% in the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 63,545 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,624,000 after buying an additional 5,892 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.6% in the second quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 11,366 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,097,000 after buying an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Alphabet in a report on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price target on the stock. Pivotal Research upped their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective 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. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.56.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.6 %

Alphabet stock opened at $166.57 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $169.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $171.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $129.40 and a 12 month high of $193.31. The stock has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 EPS. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.68, for a total transaction of $3,570,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,137,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $339,160,251.80. The trade was a 1.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $109,420.08. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,136,807.48. This represents a 2.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,673,866. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.