Titleist Asset Management LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Titleist Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 19.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 33,492 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,382 shares during the period. Titleist Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,941,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. IFS Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 400.0% in the 2nd quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Robbins Farley grew its position in Alphabet by 60.0% during the 2nd quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 160 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 58.7% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Fairman Group LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 121.3% during 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 position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter worth $31,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GOOG. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Raymond James Financial set a $275.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Alphabet from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $330.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Mizuho set a $325.00 target price on Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $324.81.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.06, for a total transaction of $168,036.00. Following the sale, the director owned 4,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,264,750.96. This trade represents a 11.73% 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 hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.80, for a total transaction of $32,681.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 18,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,253,567.20. This trade represents a 0.62% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 227,952 shares of company stock valued at $58,896,009. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 3.3%

Alphabet stock opened at $299.65 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.62 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $306.89. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $262.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $214.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company 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 dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 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.