Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Acquired by Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC

Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 16,310 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the quarter. Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,971,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,620 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $295,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the second quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 7,224 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,316,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 75.0% in the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC now owns 6,624 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,000,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sunflower Bank N.A. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 6,309 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,149,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.00, for a total value of $114,576.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 31,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,264,112. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.00, for a total transaction of $114,576.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 31,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,264,112. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.07, for a total value of $3,759,075.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,129,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $355,743,153.42. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 217,592 shares of company stock valued at $35,922,911 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Alphabet from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Pivotal Research upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $222.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, August 30th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.14.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $165.86 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $120.21 and a 52-week high of $191.75. The company has a market cap of $2.05 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.08. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $162.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $167.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.44 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

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.