Advocate Group LLC Invests $2.42 Million in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Advocate Group LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 13,747 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,423,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 242.9% in 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 in the last quarter. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 85.7% in the first quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth approximately $39,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.15, for a total value of $8,129,875.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,369,619 shares in the company, valued at approximately $592,760,192.85. This trade represents a 1.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.92, for a total transaction of $145,752.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 5,116 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,242,778.72. The trade was a 10.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 246,150 shares of company stock valued at $55,805,379 in the last 90 days. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $251.69 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $234.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $193.72. The company has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.80, a PEG ratio of 1.69 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 $257.33.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Alphabet from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Phillip Securities downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Mizuho set a $295.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Alphabet from $225.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, CIBC increased their price objective on Alphabet to $315.00 in a report on Monday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $259.12.

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.