Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Stake Boosted by Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 6.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 132,750 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,509 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.4% of Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $23,395,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. increased 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 valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the period. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of 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 during the period. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter valued at about $39,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL opened at $244.15 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $227.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $189.47. 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 company has a market cap of $2.95 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. Research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th were paid 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 of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total value of $4,408,034.72. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 42,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,635,348.70. This represents a 29.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 953 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.20, for a total value of $229,863.60. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,294 shares in the company, valued at $4,171,312.80. This trade represents a 5.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 276,338 shares of company stock valued at $59,062,683. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Phillip Securities cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. Finally, DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $247.40.

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.