Carter Financial Group INC. Acquires New Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Carter Financial Group INC. acquired a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 8,158 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,438,000. Alphabet accounts for approximately 0.9% of Carter Financial Group INC.’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $21,944,208,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $4,317,606,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 17,667.7% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,245,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,686,640,000 after buying an additional 15,159,273 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 51.7% in the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 31,817,684 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,607,232,000 after buying an additional 10,843,853 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 1.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 516,559,609 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $91,033,300,000 after acquiring an additional 6,733,278 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.0%

GOOGL stock opened at $309.29 on Monday. 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 company’s 50 day simple moving average is $283.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $229.97. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $328.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.73 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.00% and a net margin of 32.23%. Equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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 $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.28%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $300.00 target price (up previously from $265.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, October 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $340.00 to $385.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and set a $343.00 target price (up from $280.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $333.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $350.00 price target (up previously from $290.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $314.22.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 954 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.00, for a total value of $302,418.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 11,740 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,721,580. This represents a 7.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.06, for a total transaction of $168,036.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 4,516 shares in the company, valued at $1,264,750.96. This represents a 11.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 222,750 shares of company stock worth $60,496,098 in the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by 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.