Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL is New Century Financial Group LLC's 7th Largest Position

Key Points

• New Century Financial Group LLC increased its position in Alphabet Inc. by 179.6% in the second quarter, making it the company's 7th largest holding with approximately $2.14 million in shares.
• Large investors such as Brighton Jones LLC and GAMMA Investing LLC have made recent adjustments to their Alphabet holdings, indicating increased institutional interest.
• Alphabet received several price target upgrades from analysts, with Citigroup raising its target from $225 to $280, reflecting a positive outlook on the company's performance.

New Century Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 179.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 12,162 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 7,812 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 2.5% of New Century Financial Group LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. New Century Financial Group LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,143,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $20,886,000 after purchasing an additional 4,110 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,826,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.5% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 103,870 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $16,062,000 after buying an additional 9,900 shares during the period. Investment Partners Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the first quarter. Investment Partners Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,534 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,711,000 after buying an additional 241 shares during the period. Finally, Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% during the first quarter. Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLC now owns 20,302 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,140,000 after buying an additional 430 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Guggenheim upped their target price on Alphabet from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, September 15th. Roth Capital raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $201.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Four equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $245.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total value of $5,992,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,527,392 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $466,000,536.96. This represents a 1.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 276,738 shares of company stock worth $59,135,475 over the last 90 days. 11.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $236.57 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.86 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.19, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The company's 50-day moving average is $226.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $188.49. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $256.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its 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. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The company had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.60 billion. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th were paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 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.

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