Pittenger & Anderson Inc. Acquires 5,780 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Pittenger & Anderson Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 239,344 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,780 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 1.5% of Pittenger & Anderson Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Pittenger & Anderson Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $39,695,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 75.0% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. Denver PWM LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $41,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $53,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $55,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total value of $109,420.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,136,807.48. This trade represents a 2.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total transaction of $3,442,233.45. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 39,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,307,206.90. This trade represents a 35.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 206,795 shares of company stock worth $34,471,141 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on GOOGL. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. JMP Securities upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.90.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $172.49 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $2.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $165.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $170.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $127.90 and a 1-year high of $191.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly 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 quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.55 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio 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.