Helen Stephens Group LLC Boosts Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Helen Stephens Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 36.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,030 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 543 shares during the period. Helen Stephens Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $339,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 11.9% in the 1st quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 109,878 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $16,730,000 after buying an additional 11,646 shares in the last quarter. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $390,000 after buying an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 187,229 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $28,508,000 after buying an additional 8,201 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its stake in Alphabet by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 11,366 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,097,000 after buying an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliance Wealth Management Group grew its stake in Alphabet by 93.6% in the 1st quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group now owns 3,910 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $595,000 after buying an additional 1,890 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $204.00 to $187.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Pivotal Research assumed coverage on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $215.00 price target for the company. Wolfe Research raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $184.11.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $165.70 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $163.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $169.02. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $121.46 and a 52-week high of $193.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.05 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.22 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.44 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.00, for a total transaction of $114,576.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 31,334 shares in the company, valued at $5,264,112. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.00, for a total transaction of $114,576.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 31,334 shares in the company, valued at $5,264,112. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.85, for a total transaction of $278,775.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 30,824 shares in the company, valued at $5,728,640.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 217,592 shares of company stock valued at $35,922,911. Insiders own 12.99% 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.