Capital Investment Counsel Inc Grows Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Capital Investment Counsel Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 112,598 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,231 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 2.7% of Capital Investment Counsel Inc’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Capital Investment Counsel Inc’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $19,974,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Francis Financial Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 8.0% in the second quarter. Francis Financial Inc. now owns 5,445 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $966,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares in the last quarter. Cherokee Insurance Co bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth $497,000. Candriam S.C.A. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 950,766 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $168,664,000 after buying an additional 35,977 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 25.1% during the 2nd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 41,637 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,386,000 after acquiring an additional 8,346 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey grew its position in Alphabet by 1.8% in the second quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 719,191 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $127,577,000 after acquiring an additional 12,477 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.48, for a total transaction of $9,213,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,337,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $662,526,494.12. This represents a 1.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 954 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.33, for a total transaction of $269,342.82. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 14,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,098,584.61. This represents a 6.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 221,796 shares of company stock worth $53,983,001. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $279.12 on Friday. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $292.36. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $257.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $208.69. The company has a market capitalization of $3.37 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.53, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 36.08%. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.12 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. 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 will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.28%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on GOOG. Pivotal Research raised their price target on Alphabet from $300.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Alphabet from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Scotiabank set a $336.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Raymond James Financial set a $275.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $285.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Six 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $324.81.

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.