Running Point Capital Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Running Point Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 29.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,047 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the quarter. Running Point Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $175,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 360.1% in the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 20,249 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,083,000 after purchasing an additional 15,848 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,798 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 27.1% during the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,645 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,621,000 after acquiring an additional 2,269 shares during the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 7.0% during the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 212,491 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $32,354,000 after acquiring an additional 13,884 shares in the last quarter. Finally, K2 Principal Fund L.P. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth approximately $228,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. 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 note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five investment 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,136,807.48. The trade was a 2.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.68, for a total value of $3,570,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,137,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $339,160,251.80. This represents a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 184,295 shares of company stock valued at $30,698,791 in the last quarter. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $177.33 on Thursday. 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’s fifty day moving average is $168.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $171.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.17 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $129.40 and a fifty-two week high of $193.31.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm 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 $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 yield of 0.45%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

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.