Security Financial Services INC. Increases Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Security Financial Services INC. raised its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 16.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,319 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 458 shares during the quarter. Security Financial Services INC.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $585,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 2.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $78,839,544,000 after purchasing an additional 14,307,345 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 3.1% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 141,615,284 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $24,857,017,000 after acquiring an additional 4,224,497 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 11.4% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 43,865,520 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,783,364,000 after purchasing an additional 4,473,901 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 43,648,514 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,749,806,000 after purchasing an additional 593,345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 39,792,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,153,481,000 after purchasing an additional 727,335 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.1%

Alphabet stock opened at $319.95 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $328.83. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $266.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $216.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.86 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. 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 firm had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be given 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 dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 8.28%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $270.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $307.84.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.80, for a total value of $32,681.60. Following the sale, the director owned 18,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,253,567.20. This trade represents a 0.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.06, for a total transaction of $168,036.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 4,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,264,750.96. This represents a 11.73% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 225,072 shares of company stock valued at $58,074,027 over the last three months. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.