Kanawha Capital Management LLC Grows Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Kanawha Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 8,096 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 223 shares during the quarter. Kanawha Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,354,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 9,200.0% in the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the period. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at about $37,000. HWG Holdings LP bought a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 62.5% during the second quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 260 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG stock opened at $172.65 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.04. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $163.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $170.63. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $128.11 and a 12-month high of $193.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. Alphabet’s revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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 is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,765,346. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total value 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 trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,765,346. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 230,244 shares of company stock valued at $37,776,954 over the last three months. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on GOOG shares. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Pivotal Research raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Alphabet in a report on Friday, October 11th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

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.