Searle & CO. Raises Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Searle & CO. grew its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 114.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,860 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,060 shares during the period. Searle & CO.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $703,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its position in Alphabet by 75.0% in the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 59.2% in the first quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 293 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.0 %

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $148.66 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $120.21 and a 12 month high of $191.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 2.08. The company has a market capitalization of $1.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $169.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $164.52.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.64 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, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.27%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total transaction of $125,126.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 30,650 shares in the company, valued at $5,623,355.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total transaction of $125,126.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 30,650 shares in the company, valued at $5,623,355.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.40, for a total transaction of $3,991,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,213,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $392,588,151.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 179,367 shares of company stock worth $30,016,931 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $240.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $190.00 price objective for the company. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.76.

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.