Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Purchased by Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc.

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.8% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,685,932 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,968 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.7% of Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $449,061,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. H&H International Investment LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. H&H International Investment LLC now owns 5,066,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $847,035,000 after purchasing an additional 40,300 shares during the last quarter. Harmony Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 18.1% during the 3rd quarter. Harmony Asset Management LLC now owns 2,350 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $393,000 after purchasing an additional 360 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 2,247,845 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $375,864,000 after purchasing an additional 51,045 shares during the period. HighVista Strategies LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.6% during the third quarter. HighVista Strategies LLC now owns 12,536 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,096,000 after acquiring an additional 1,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hilltop Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 39.9% during the 3rd quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 46,055 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,700,000 after buying an additional 13,144 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on GOOG shares. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, October 11th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price target on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. DA Davidson raised shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Pivotal Research upped their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG opened at $172.98 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $129.40 and a 12-month high of $193.31. 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 stock’s 50 day moving average price is $169.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $171.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.12 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted 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. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total value of $429,587.55. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,182 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,421,948.46. This represents a 8.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.68, for a total transaction of $3,570,300.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,137,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $339,160,251.80. The trade was a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 186,124 shares of company stock worth $31,374,030. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.