AdviceOne Advisory Services LLC Makes New Investment in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• AdviceOne Advisory Services LLC acquired 1,298 shares of Alphabet Inc. valued at approximately $230,000, making it the firm's 29th largest holding.
• Insiders at Alphabet Inc. have recently sold significant amounts of stock, with Chief Accounting Officer Amie Thuener O'toole selling 953 shares and insider John Kent Walker selling 17,816 shares.
• Several research firms have upgraded their ratings on Alphabet, with Pivotal Research raising the target price from $245 to $300 and multiple firms giving the stock a "Strong Buy" rating.

AdviceOne Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 1,298 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $230,000. Alphabet comprises about 0.2% of AdviceOne Advisory Services LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GOOG. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at $26,000. IFS Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 400.0% in the second quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Robbins Farley grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 60.0% in the second quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 160 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at $32,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 953 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.20, for a total transaction of $229,863.60. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 17,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,171,312.80. This represents a 5.22% decrease in their position. The sale 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 the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total value of $4,408,034.72. Following the sale, the insider owned 42,985 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,635,348.70. This trade represents a 29.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 243,838 shares of company stock worth $53,070,333. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on GOOG. Pivotal Research boosted their target price on Alphabet from $245.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Citizens Jmp raised Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Hsbc Global Res raised Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Alphabet from $230.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $210.00 target price (up from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $241.00.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.6%

Alphabet stock opened at $246.19 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $256.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The company has a market capitalization of $2.98 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.22, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $228.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $191.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The firm's revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. Equities research analysts expect 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 was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th were issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

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.

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