3Chopt Investment Partners LLC Increases Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

3Chopt Investment Partners LLC increased its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 118.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,532 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,807 shares during the period. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,078,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Schear Investment Advisers LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 33,751 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,598,000 after buying an additional 4,905 shares during the last quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $771,000 after buying an additional 190 shares during the period. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 27.9% in the 3rd quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 25,275 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,192,000 after buying an additional 5,516 shares in the last quarter. abrdn plc boosted its position in Alphabet by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 6,305,717 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,037,196,000 after buying an additional 611,233 shares during the last quarter. Finally, StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. now owns 21,509 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,567,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $195.42 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a market cap of $2.39 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $172.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $170.97. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $130.66 and a 12-month high of $201.42.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.55 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on GOOGL. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $210.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Alphabet from $204.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, China Renaissance raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Seven 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 data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $206.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $75,437.46. Following the transaction, the director now owns 16,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,820,779.40. This represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.84, for a total value of $230,804.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,927,257.72. This trade represents a 4.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 178,957 shares of company stock valued at $31,358,687. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.