4,252 Shares in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Purchased by Motley Fool Asset Management LLC

Motley Fool Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 4,252 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $749,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Mystic Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. now owns 28,454 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,400,000 after buying an additional 1,791 shares in the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 17.9% during the 1st quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 88,187 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,637,000 after acquiring an additional 13,371 shares in the last quarter. Alaethes Wealth LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 1.1% during the first quarter. Alaethes Wealth LLC now owns 7,646 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,182,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Moment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% in the second quarter. Moment Partners LLC now owns 5,896 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,039,000 after purchasing an additional 504 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.4% in the first quarter. Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC. now owns 31,244 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,832,000 after purchasing an additional 2,434 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total value of $4,408,034.72. Following the transaction, the insider owned 42,985 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,635,348.70. This trade represents a 29.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $680,610.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 17,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,236,785. This represents a 13.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 222,396 shares of company stock valued at $54,105,275. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.1%

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $278.83 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $251.23 and a 200-day moving average of $204.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $291.59. The company has a market cap of $3.37 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 36.08%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $320.00 target price (up previously from $245.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $350.00 price objective (up from $290.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Alphabet from $236.00 to $268.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $240.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Finally, DZ Bank reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $304.10.

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.