Optas LLC Grows Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Optas LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 127,167 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,012 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 6.0% of Optas LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Optas LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $23,163,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.6% during the second quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,620 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $295,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Hengehold Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the second quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 7,224 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,316,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% during the first quarter. Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC now owns 6,624 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,000,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. Sunflower Bank N.A. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% during the second quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 6,309 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,149,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, M. Kraus & Co boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% during the first quarter. M. Kraus & Co now owns 6,267 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $946,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $163.38 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $120.21 and a one year high of $191.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.08. The firm has a market cap of $2.01 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.06, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.05. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $173.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $164.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.60 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.44 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.58, for a total transaction of $3,973,050.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,235,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $394,746,532.38. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,765,346. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.58, for a total transaction of $3,973,050.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,235,511 shares in the company, valued at $394,746,532.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 155,883 shares of company stock valued at $26,705,320. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $206.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $196.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $208.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $176.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.74.

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.