Kovack Advisors Inc. Grows Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Kovack Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 90,521 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,037 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 1.6% of Kovack Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $15,013,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its holdings in Alphabet by 75.0% during the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the second quarter worth approximately $36,000. Denver PWM LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the second quarter worth approximately $41,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Alphabet during the second quarter worth approximately $53,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the second quarter worth approximately $55,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Bank of America boosted their target price on Alphabet from $206.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.90.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.1 %

GOOGL stock opened at $169.23 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $127.90 and a 1 year high of $191.75. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $168.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $170.34. The firm has a market cap of $2.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.44, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) 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 $72.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 11.55% of the company’s stock.

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.