Malaga Cove Capital LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Malaga Cove Capital LLC increased its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 20.3% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 19,816 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,338 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.3% of Malaga Cove Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Malaga Cove Capital LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,286,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 70.6% in the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 101,230 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,279,000 after purchasing an additional 41,880 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.6% in the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 31,171 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,705,000 after buying an additional 1,072 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 12.3% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 187,840 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $28,351,000 after purchasing an additional 20,572 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.9% in the 1st quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 7,693,292 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,161,149,000 after acquiring an additional 695,581 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 44,965 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,787,000 after buying an additional 791 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $208.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Roth Mkm boosted their price target on Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.90.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total transaction of $429,587.55. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,182 shares in the company, valued at $4,421,948.46. The trade was a 8.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.41, for a total value of $1,862,805.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 319,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,765,168.06. This represents a 3.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 184,295 shares of company stock valued at $30,698,791. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.6 %

GOOGL stock opened at $178.12 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50-day moving average of $166.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $170.36. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $127.90 and a 52-week high of $191.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.55 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

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.