Smith Thornton Advisors LLC Purchases 323 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Smith Thornton Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 16,563 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 323 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 1.8% of Smith Thornton Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Smith Thornton Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,747,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. First National Bank & Trust Co. of Newtown grew its holdings in Alphabet by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. First National Bank & Trust Co. of Newtown now owns 17,843 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,959,000 after acquiring an additional 640 shares during the period. Vista Capital Partners Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 42.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. now owns 3,889 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $645,000 after acquiring an additional 1,165 shares in the last quarter. Lewis Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. Lewis Asset Management LLC now owns 9,371 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,554,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Value Partners LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Hudson Value Partners LLC now owns 59,718 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,904,000 after buying an additional 3,619 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,605 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,759,000 after buying an additional 605 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Pivotal Research raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.90.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $167.83 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.05 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $127.90 and a 52 week high of $191.75. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $167.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $170.38.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for 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 firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total value of $109,420.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,136,807.48. The trade was a 2.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.75, for a total transaction of $123,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 28,524 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,385,565. This represents a 2.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,673,866. Corporate insiders own 11.55% 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.