Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC Raises Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 7.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,248 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 217 shares during the quarter. Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $572,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $78,839,544,000 after acquiring an additional 14,307,345 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 11.4% during 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 buying an additional 4,473,901 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.4% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 43,648,514 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,749,806,000 after buying an additional 593,345 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.9% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 39,792,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,153,481,000 after buying an additional 727,335 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% during the first 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 buying an additional 104,859 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the topic of several research reports. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $288.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Moffett Nathanson lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $249.26.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 953 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.20, for a total transaction of $229,863.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,294 shares in the company, valued at $4,171,312.80. The trade was a 5.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.44, for a total transaction of $149,664.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 5,716 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,425,799.04. This represents a 9.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 243,838 shares of company stock valued at $53,070,333. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.5%

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $245.45 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $256.00. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $228.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $189.86. 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 capitalization of $2.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.14, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

About Alphabet

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.