Weiss Asset Management LP Acquires Shares of 144,642 Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 144,642 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $23,989,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Wills Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% during the third quarter. Wills Financial Group Inc. now owns 43,151 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,157,000 after acquiring an additional 952 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its holdings in Alphabet by 58.2% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 4,177,400 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $692,822,000 after purchasing an additional 1,537,300 shares during the period. Taika Capital LP raised its position in Alphabet by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. Taika Capital LP now owns 59,360 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,845,000 after purchasing an additional 3,769 shares in the last quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 4,715,384 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $782,046,000 after buying an additional 273,500 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 222,555,548 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $36,910,838,000 after buying an additional 743,369 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $189.82 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.32 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.18, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $171.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $170.67. 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 $129.68 and a fifty-two week high of $195.61.

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. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be 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 is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GOOGL. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. DA Davidson started coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 price target for the company. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, JMP Securities lifted their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven research 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $206.08.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.95, for a total transaction of $247,425.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 26,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,342,143.80. This represents a 5.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.63, for a total value of $3,614,175.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,114,885 shares in the company, valued at $339,713,977.55. This trade represents a 1.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 198,623 shares of company stock worth $34,413,006. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Company 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.