Leisure Capital Management Grows Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Leisure Capital Management raised its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,539 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 399 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.0% of Leisure Capital Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Leisure Capital Management’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,558,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Keener Financial Planning LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 14.7% during the 1st quarter. Keener Financial Planning LLC now owns 2,134 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $330,000 after acquiring an additional 274 shares in the last quarter. West Michigan Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 19.4% during the first quarter. West Michigan Advisors LLC now owns 7,512 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,162,000 after purchasing an additional 1,223 shares during the last quarter. Associated Banc Corp raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.6% in the first quarter. Associated Banc Corp now owns 748,336 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $115,723,000 after acquiring an additional 11,704 shares during the last quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 48.1% in the first quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. now owns 3,074 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $475,000 after purchasing an additional 999 shares during the last quarter. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 6.7% during the first quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 834,830 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $129,098,000 after acquiring an additional 52,115 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.2%

GOOGL opened at $201.00 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.43 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.41, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $181.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $172.81.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The firm had revenue of $96,428,000 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on GOOGL. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Citizens Jmp raised Alphabet from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Roth Capital upped their price objective on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $211.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at $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 available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $456,991,919.84. This represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 274,219 shares of company stock worth $49,674,273 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.55% 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.