Vantage Investment Partners LLC Makes New Investment in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Vantage Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 46,341 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,167,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings 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 last quarter. IMA Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 85.7% in the first quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at $39,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.41, for a total transaction of $7,910,825.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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. Insiders sold a total of 276,338 shares of company stock valued at $59,062,683 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Mizuho set a $295.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Westpark Capital upped their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Susquehanna raised their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $237.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $247.40.

Alphabet Trading Up 3.2%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $244.15 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.95 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.00. 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $227.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $189.47. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $256.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.95%.

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.