J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Raises Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 27.3% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 134,854 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 28,948 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $23,765,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at about $31,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 85.7% in the 1st quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the period. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. increased its stake in Alphabet by 36.4% in the 2nd quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. S&T Bank PA boosted its position in Alphabet by 40.2% during the second quarter. S&T Bank PA now owns 345 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its position in Alphabet by 77.6% during the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 348 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Arete Research boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $300.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “buy” rating and set a $315.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $330.00 price objective (up from $285.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $343.00 target price (up previously from $280.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Four 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 has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $312.65.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total value of $4,408,034.72. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,635,348.70. This trade represents a 29.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.41, for a total value of $7,910,825.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,402,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $584,699,785.79. This trade represents a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 226,128 shares of company stock valued at $61,326,372. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of GOOGL opened at $321.27 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $328.83. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $276.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $224.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75. The company has a market capitalization of $3.88 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. The business 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%. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors 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 is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 8.28%.

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.