54,024 Shares in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Bought by Arete Wealth Advisors LLC

Arete Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 54,024 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,960,000. Alphabet makes up 0.7% of Arete Wealth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its position in Alphabet by 75.0% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. First PREMIER Bank raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.8% during the third quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 1,655 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $275,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Cutler Investment Counsel LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% in the third quarter. Cutler Investment Counsel LLC now owns 3,663 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $607,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. MKT Advisors LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 0.8% in the third quarter. MKT Advisors LLC now owns 7,363 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,221,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mendota Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 19.0% during the 3rd quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC now owns 401 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Seaport Res Ptn raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. DA Davidson began coverage on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 target price on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $190.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $206.69.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.07, for a total transaction of $3,759,075.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,129,306 shares in the company, valued at approximately $355,743,153.42. This represents a 1.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.95, for a total value of $247,425.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 26,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,342,143.80. This trade represents a 5.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 178,957 shares of company stock worth $31,358,687. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $188.40 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.31 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. The business’s 50-day moving average is $173.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $171.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $130.66 and a fifty-two week high of $201.42.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.55 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.