Palisade Asset Management LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Palisade Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 6.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,553 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 681 shares during the period. Palisade Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,750,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Alphabet by 0.5% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 49,472,478 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,011,412,000 after acquiring an additional 238,403 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 37,233,079 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,175,106,000 after purchasing an additional 523,416 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 23,465,190 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,274,184,000 after purchasing an additional 418,204 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings in Alphabet by 9.1% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 23,263,385 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,237,426,000 after buying an additional 1,949,476 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 43,005.6% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 18,743,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $31,086,250,000 after buying an additional 18,700,111 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,802 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.47, for a total transaction of $2,780,226.94. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,999 shares in the company, valued at $7,280,514.53. The trade was a 27.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $75,437.46. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at $2,820,779.40. This represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 163,624 shares of company stock valued at $27,803,730 over the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $210.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Seven equities research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.90.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $174.71 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $129.68 and a twelve month high of $191.75. The firm has a market cap of $2.14 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $169.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $170.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.55 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.61%.

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.