City Center Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 1,346 Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

City Center Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 1,346 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $237,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 242.9% during the 1st quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. IMA Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 85.7% during the 1st quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $39,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $240.80 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $201.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $177.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.91 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.64, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $242.25. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 42,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. This trade represents a 35.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $200,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,383,200. This represents a 12.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 254,710 shares of company stock worth $49,208,380 in the last quarter. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $240.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. JMP Securities increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Phillip Securities cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have assigned a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $221.44.

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.