Sunbelt Securities Inc. Increases Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Get Rating) by 1,936.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 49,251 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 46,832 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 1.0% of Sunbelt Securities Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Sunbelt Securities Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,711,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1,919.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 477,035,902 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $45,628,484,000 after buying an additional 453,413,389 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1,900.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 217,154,306 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $20,770,809,000 after buying an additional 206,300,042 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1,759.2% during the 3rd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 116,116,066 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,106,502,000 after buying an additional 109,870,525 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1,955.0% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 61,134,061 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,847,474,000 after buying an additional 58,159,150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1,896.9% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 58,060,946 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,553,529,000 after buying an additional 55,153,448 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 34.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on GOOGL. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 21st. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, February 10th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $132.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, February 3rd. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $116.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 31st. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $118.00 to $117.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $132.32.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $96.11 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $83.34 and a one year high of $143.79. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $94.51 and its 200 day moving average is $96.29. The stock has a market cap of $1.23 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 2.34 and a current ratio of 2.38.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 2nd. The information services provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by ($0.09). Alphabet had a return on equity of 23.54% and a net margin of 21.20%. The company had revenue of $76.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.53 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 5.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, major shareholder 2021 Gp L.L.C. Gv purchased 415,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $29.29 per share, for a total transaction of $12,155,350.00. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 1,709,527 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,072,045.83. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,313 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total value of $1,131,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 41,970 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,197,000. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder 2021 Gp L.L.C. Gv purchased 415,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $29.29 per share, with a total value of $12,155,350.00. Following the purchase, the insider now directly owns 1,709,527 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,072,045.83. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 36,745 shares of company stock valued at $3,424,078. 11.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Profile

(Get Rating)

Alphabet, Inc engages in the business of delivering online advertising, cloud-based solutions that provide enterprise customers with infrastructure and platform services, the provision of communication and collaboration tools, and sales of other products and services such as apps and in-app purchases, hardware, and subscription-based products.