Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. Has $823,000 Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 13.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 4,960 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 580 shares during the period. Virtus Investment Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $823,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Lantz Financial LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 10.8% in the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 4,622 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $842,000 after buying an additional 452 shares during the period. Spectrum Wealth Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at about $218,000. Maia Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at about $5,474,000. Diversified Trust Co increased its stake in Alphabet by 23.7% in the second quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 241,932 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $44,068,000 after acquiring an additional 46,338 shares during the period. Finally, Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 1.3% in the second quarter. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. now owns 60,629 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,044,000 after purchasing an additional 790 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total transaction of $75,437.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,820,779.40. This represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,802 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.47, for a total value of $2,780,226.94. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 43,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,280,514.53. The trade was a 27.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 198,623 shares of company stock worth $34,413,006 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $189.82 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $171.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $170.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The company has a market capitalization of $2.32 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.18, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $129.68 and a 52 week high of $195.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 previous year, the business earned $1.55 EPS. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $217.00 price target (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. DA Davidson assumed coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $206.08.

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.