Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Bought by River Road Asset Management LLC

River Road Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 116.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 204,856 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 110,235 shares during the quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $34,250,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 360.1% in the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 20,249 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,083,000 after buying an additional 15,848 shares during the last quarter. Hosking Partners LLP boosted its position in Alphabet by 0.6% during the first quarter. Hosking Partners LLP now owns 729,570 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $111,084,000 after purchasing an additional 4,442 shares during the period. Gilbert & Cook Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 27.0% during the first quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 37,035 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,639,000 after purchasing an additional 7,876 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 5.8% during the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 32,706 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,980,000 after purchasing an additional 1,798 shares during the period. Finally, GSB Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 5.9% during the first quarter. GSB Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,891 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,724,000 after purchasing an additional 991 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GOOG. UBS Group upped their target price on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Alphabet in a research report on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price objective for the company. Wolfe Research raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, DA Davidson raised Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.56.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.03, for a total value of $130,424.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 30,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,894,812.72. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.03, for a total value of $130,424.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 30,024 shares in the company, valued at $4,894,812.72. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total value of $5,570,188.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,765,346. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 209,552 shares of company stock worth $34,433,848. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $171.41 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $129.40 and a twelve month high of $193.31. The firm has a market cap of $2.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.04. 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $163.97 and a 200-day moving average of $170.83.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its 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 return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.55 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.97 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.