Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Purchased by Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 414,394 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,035 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 1.3% of Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $68,728,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 70.6% during the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 101,230 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $15,279,000 after purchasing an additional 41,880 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.6% in the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 31,171 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,705,000 after purchasing an additional 1,072 shares during the period. City of London Investment Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 70.5% in the 1st quarter. City of London Investment Management Co. Ltd. now owns 185,415 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $27,961,000 after acquiring an additional 76,650 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 497,874,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $75,144,172,000 after buying an additional 4,064,073 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TIAA Trust National Association grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.6% in the first quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 1,093,974 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $165,113,000 after purchasing an additional 37,798 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on GOOGL. Scotiabank raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $217.00 target price (up from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.90.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total value of $3,975,075.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,061,806 shares in the company, valued at $364,259,266.02. The trade was a 1.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $5,136,807.48. The trade was a 2.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,673,866. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.7 %

Alphabet stock opened at $164.76 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $167.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $170.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $127.90 and a 12-month high of $191.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

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.