Raymond James & Associates Has $1.74 Billion Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.5% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 9,558,678 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 411,622 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 1.1% of Raymond James & Associates’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,741,113,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 59.2% during the 1st quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 293 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Richardson Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 87.5% during the 1st quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 300 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.86, for a total transaction of $118,572.52. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,209,888.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.85, for a total value of $278,775.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,728,640.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.86, for a total transaction of $118,572.52. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,209,888.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 156,565 shares of company stock valued at $26,823,893 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $240.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.74.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $165.62 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $174.73 and a 200-day moving average of $163.04. The company has a market cap of $2.05 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $120.21 and a 52 week high of $191.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.60 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.44 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.27%.

About Alphabet

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.