Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC Has $1.90 Million Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,404 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 235 shares during the period. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,896,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Denver PWM LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $41,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $165.86 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $120.21 and a fifty-two week high of $191.75. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $162.06 and a 200-day moving average of $167.00. The company has a market capitalization of $2.05 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.44, a PEG 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.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its 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. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The firm had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.60 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.44 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.84, for a total value of $230,804.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,183 shares in the company, valued at $4,927,257.72. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.84, for a total value of $230,804.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,927,257.72. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total value of $3,442,233.45. Following the sale, the insider now owns 39,334 shares in the company, valued at $6,307,206.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 217,592 shares of company stock worth $35,922,911 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on GOOGL. TD Securities boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $240.00 price objective on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Bank of America boosted their target price 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, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $208.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.14.

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.