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

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 242.9% in the 1st quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 85.7% in the 1st 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 last quarter. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at about $39,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.1%

GOOGL stock traded up $2.69 during trading on Friday, reaching $254.72. 55,452,697 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 36,860,836. The firm's 50 day moving average is $207.87 and its 200 day moving average is $179.73. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $256.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market cap of $3.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,778 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $680,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,293 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,236,785. This trade represents a 13.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,429,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at $558,219,089.16. The trade was a 1.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 258,088 shares of company stock valued at $52,405,304 over the last three months. Insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on GOOGL shares. Roth Capital upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Wedbush increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $191.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $225.54.

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.