Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Position Boosted by Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc.

Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 42,738 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 2.8% of Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,532,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mystic Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 1,791 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 27,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,187,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Cypress Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. Cypress Capital LLC now owns 14,310 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,213,000 after purchasing an additional 563 shares in the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 13,371 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alaethes Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Alaethes Wealth LLC now owns 7,646 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,182,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, September 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-three have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $240.76.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at $45,213,984. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total transaction of $5,992,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,527,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $466,000,536.96. The trade was a 1.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 276,738 shares of company stock worth $59,135,475 over the last three months. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $245.35 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $221.25 and a 200 day moving average of $185.80. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $256.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $96.43 billion during 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, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th were given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

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.