Cerity Partners LLC Has $570.19 Million Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.5% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,283,668 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 110,272 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 1.0% of Cerity Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $570,192,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. IFS Advisors LLC lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Robbins Farley raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 60.0% in the 2nd quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 160 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. WestEnd Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 58.7% in the 2nd quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Fairman Group LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 121.3% during the second quarter. Fairman Group LLC now owns 177 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the period. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation bought a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter worth about $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.2%

GOOG stock opened at $322.09 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.76, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.07. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $276.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $225.28. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $328.67.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. 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 net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. The company had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.12 earnings per share. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.28%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.05, for a total transaction of $694,638.90. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 14,516 shares in the company, valued at $3,629,725.80. This trade represents a 16.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.15, for a total value of $8,129,875.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,369,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $592,760,192.85. The trade was a 1.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 228,906 shares of company stock valued at $62,127,158. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Alphabet from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $310.54.

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.