Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Stock Position Lifted by Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC

Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 7.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,727 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 333 shares during the quarter. Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $835,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $78,839,544,000 after buying an additional 14,307,345 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 11.4% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 43,865,520 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,783,364,000 after acquiring an additional 4,473,901 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Alphabet by 1.4% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 43,648,514 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,749,806,000 after acquiring an additional 593,345 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 39,792,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,153,481,000 after purchasing an additional 727,335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 38,556,577 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,962,389,000 after purchasing an additional 104,859 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of GOOGL opened at $245.35 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $221.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $186.12. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $256.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citizens Jmp increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $250.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Alphabet from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Alphabet from $240.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Melius Research lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $255.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-three have issued a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $240.76.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total value of $4,408,034.72. Following the sale, the insider owned 42,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,635,348.70. The trade was a 29.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.41, for a total transaction of $7,910,825.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,402,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $584,699,785.79. This represents a 1.33% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 276,738 shares of company stock worth $59,135,475. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.