Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC Grows Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 14.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 32,092 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,011 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 0.9% of Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,276,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Unigestion Holding SA raised its position in Alphabet by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 11,322 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,596,000 after acquiring an additional 851 shares during the period. VitalStone Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 40.5% in the 4th quarter. VitalStone Financial LLC now owns 1,089 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $153,000 after purchasing an additional 314 shares during the period. Visionary Wealth Advisors lifted its stake in Alphabet by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Visionary Wealth Advisors now owns 17,099 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,410,000 after purchasing an additional 1,005 shares during the last quarter. Rench Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Rench Wealth Management Inc. now owns 46,421 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,542,000 after purchasing an additional 352 shares during the period. Finally, Ethic Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 366,679 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $51,676,000 after buying an additional 15,905 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.84, for a total value of $230,804.28. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,927,257.72. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.84, for a total value of $230,804.28. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,927,257.72. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,765,346. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 217,592 shares of company stock valued at $35,922,911. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on GOOG. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. DA Davidson raised shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Pivotal Research assumed coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $215.00 price objective on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $184.11.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.8 %

GOOG stock opened at $165.70 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.05 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.08. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $121.46 and a one year high of $193.31. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $163.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $169.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.22 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.44 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

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.