Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Buys 6,140 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 6.7% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 98,349 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,140 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.1% of Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $17,446,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. IFS Advisors LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 400.0% in the 2nd quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Robbins Farley raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 60.0% during the second quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 160 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter valued at about $26,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Goodman Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter valued at about $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Lake Street Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $270.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $237.68.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG stock opened at $245.46 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $256.70. The company has a market cap of $2.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.14, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $225.03 and a 200 day moving average of $188.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The company had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.67 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. Alphabet’s revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 8.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.44, for a total value of $149,664.00. Following the sale, the director owned 5,716 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,425,799.04. This represents a 9.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.41, for a total transaction of $7,910,825.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,402,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $584,699,785.79. This trade represents a 1.33% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 276,738 shares of company stock valued at $59,135,475. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.