Apella Capital LLC Grows Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Apella Capital LLC significantly increased its position in Alphabet Inc. by 228.2% during Q2, holding shares valued at $7,438,000 following additional purchases.
• A number of hedge funds, including Nuveen LLC and GAMMA Investing LLC, have also made substantial changes to their holdings in Alphabet, reflecting strong institutional interest.
• Alphabet recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, with an annualized yield of 0.3% and a payout ratio of 8.95%.

Apella Capital LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 228.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 42,075 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 29,255 shares during the quarter. Apella Capital LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,438,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at approximately $4,317,606,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 16,993.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,062,457 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,483,898,000 after acquiring an additional 15,968,487 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $78,839,544,000 after acquiring an additional 14,307,345 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Alphabet by 307.6% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,302,644 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,593,201,000 after acquiring an additional 7,774,811 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $1,375,509,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,371,905.30. The trade was a 35.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.79, for a total value of $122,274.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,316 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,287,137.64. This represents a 8.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 254,710 shares of company stock valued at $49,208,380. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the topic of several analyst reports. BNP Paribas cut Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Three investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $221.44.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.2%

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $240.80 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $242.25. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average of $201.89 and a 200-day moving average of $177.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.91 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.01.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet's payout ratio is 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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