Balefire LLC Invests $1.71 Million in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Balefire LLC purchased 9,707 shares of Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) in the 2nd quarter, valued at approximately $1,711,000.
• Alphabet reported earnings of $2.31 per share for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations of $2.15 per share, with a revenue of $96.43 billion.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, representing an annualized dividend yield of 0.3%.

Balefire LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 9,707 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,711,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mystic Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 6.7% during the first quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. now owns 28,454 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,400,000 after acquiring an additional 1,791 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co raised its stake in Alphabet by 0.3% during the first quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 27,075 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,187,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Cypress Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.1% in the first quarter. Cypress Capital LLC now owns 14,310 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,213,000 after buying an additional 563 shares during the period. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17.9% in the first quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 88,187 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $13,637,000 after buying an additional 13,371 shares during the period. Finally, Alaethes Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% in the first quarter. Alaethes Wealth LLC now owns 7,646 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,182,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of GOOGL stock traded up $2.69 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $254.72. 55,452,697 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 38,316,584. The firm has a market cap of $3.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $256.00. 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 $209.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $180.31.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced 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. The company had revenue of $96.43 billion during 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%. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th were issued 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 was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.95%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.73, for a total value of $7,466,225.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,429,892 shares in the company, valued at $558,219,089.16. This trade represents a 1.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 258,088 shares of company stock valued at $52,405,304 in the last 90 days. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Alphabet from $230.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. BNP Paribas Exane reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $172.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Roth Capital upped their price objective on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $270.00 price objective (up previously from $235.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have assigned a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $225.54.

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.