Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Acquires 8,013 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. by 7.5%, acquiring an additional 8,013 shares during the first quarter, now totaling 115,477 shares valued at approximately $17.86 million.
• Alphabet's stock has received multiple analyst upgrades, with target prices set as high as $260.00 by the Royal Bank of Canada, indicating strong market confidence in the company's performance.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, which will be paid on September 15th, reflecting a 0.4% dividend yield and a low payout ratio of 8.95%.

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 7.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 115,477 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 8,013 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 0.7% of Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC's holdings, making the stock its 28th biggest position. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $17,857,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on GOOGL. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Phillip Securities lowered shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Wedbush raised their price target on Alphabet from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $221.44.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.4%

GOOGL traded up $5.59 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $239.63. 37,672,216 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 34,417,184. The stock has a market cap of $2.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $240.47. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $196.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $175.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. Equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 15,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $2,786,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 240,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $44,656,704. The trade was a 5.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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 transaction of $122,274.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,316 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,287,137.64. This trade represents a 8.68% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 254,710 shares of company stock valued at $49,208,380. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

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.