Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Acquired by Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd.

Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. increased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 58,711 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 176 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 2.3% of Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,347,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 242.9% during the first quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the period. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 85.7% during the first 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. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth about $39,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, 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 value 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 $466,000,536.96. This represents a 1.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The stock was 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 owned 42,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,371,905.30. This represents a 35.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 276,738 shares of company stock worth $59,135,475 over the last three months. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on Alphabet from $191.00 to $224.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Alphabet from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Roth Capital raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-three have given a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $240.76.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.1%

GOOGL opened at $245.35 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $221.25 and a 200-day moving average of $186.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $256.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.60 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.