Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Shares Bought by Watchman Group Inc.

Watchman Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,203 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 686 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 1.2% of Watchman Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Watchman Group Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,648,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 400.0% during the second quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the period. Robbins Farley raised its holdings in Alphabet by 60.0% during the second quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 160 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 58.7% in the second quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Fairman Group LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 121.3% in the 2nd quarter. Fairman Group LLC now owns 177 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.05, for a total value of $694,638.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 14,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,629,725.80. This trade represents a 16.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total transaction of $4,408,034.72. Following the sale, the insider owned 42,985 shares in the company, valued at $10,635,348.70. This represents a 29.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 195,452 shares of company stock valued at $49,255,209 over the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on GOOG shares. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $330.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $324.81.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of GOOG opened at $289.98 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $306.89. The company has a market capitalization of $3.50 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $261.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $212.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. The business had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 36.08%. The company’s revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.12 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.28%.

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.