Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Stock Position Boosted by First Pacific Financial

Key Points

• First Pacific Financial increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 164.6% in the second quarter, owning 7,292 shares valued at approximately $1.285 million.
• Alphabet declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 0.3%.
• Equity analysts have mixed ratings for Alphabet, with four ratings indicating a Strong Buy and a consensus target price of $242.98.

First Pacific Financial boosted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 164.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,292 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 4,536 shares during the period. First Pacific Financial's holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,285,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 242.9% during 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 in the last quarter. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 85.7% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at about $39,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, September 21st. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $172.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, June 27th. Four investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $242.98.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $245.76 on Wednesday. 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 stock has a market cap of $2.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $223.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $187.13. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $256.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.41, for a total transaction of $7,910,825.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,402,119 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $584,699,785.79. This trade represents a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total transaction of $4,408,034.72. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,985 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,635,348.70. The trade was a 29.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 276,738 shares of company stock valued at $59,135,475 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

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.

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