Financial Advocates Investment Management Boosts Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Financial Advocates Investment Management raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 107.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 25,365 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 13,158 shares during the period. Financial Advocates Investment Management’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,470,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $20,886,000 after purchasing an additional 4,110 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,826,000 after buying an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. Smart Money Group LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 9.4% in the 1st quarter. Smart Money Group LLC now owns 6,181 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $956,000 after buying an additional 532 shares during the period. United Bank grew its stake in Alphabet by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. United Bank now owns 45,084 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,972,000 after acquiring an additional 910 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Investment Consultants LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 16.4% during the first quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 27,114 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,193,000 after acquiring an additional 3,822 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $321.27 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $276.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $224.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $328.83. The company has a market cap of $3.88 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.00% and a net margin of 32.23%.The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. As a group, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 8.28%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $350.00 price target (up previously from $290.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $270.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 price objective (up from $245.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Roth Capital boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $312.65.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.06, for a total transaction of $168,036.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 4,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,264,750.96. The trade was a 11.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.50, for a total value of $10,383,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,272,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $725,942,020.50. The trade was a 1.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 226,128 shares of company stock worth $61,326,372 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

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.