Cresta Advisors Ltd. Has $2.13 Million Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Cresta Advisors Ltd. increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. by 19.8% during the 2nd quarter, owning 12,112 shares worth approximately $2.13 million.
• Alphabet has been the subject of recent analyst upgrades, with Citigroup raising its price target to $280 and Royal Bank of Canada to $260, reflecting a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy".
• Insiders have recently sold a significant amount of Alphabet stock, with Kavitark Ram Shriram selling 18,566 shares valued at over $3.4 million, indicating potential shifts in insider confidence.

Cresta Advisors Ltd. grew its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 19.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,112 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.0% of Cresta Advisors Ltd.'s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Cresta Advisors Ltd.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,134,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $20,886,000 after buying an additional 4,110 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake 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 valued at $2,826,000 after acquiring an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 11,267,743 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,742,444,000 after purchasing an additional 86,670 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 16.7% in the 1st quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 206,512 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $31,935,000 after purchasing an additional 29,508 shares during the period. Finally, Swisher Financial Concepts Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 11.3% in the first quarter. Swisher Financial Concepts Inc. now owns 6,297 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $974,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup upped 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. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. DA Davidson upped their target price on Alphabet from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-three have given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $235.63.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the director owned 243,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. This represents a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 225,469 shares of company stock worth $46,586,752. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $243.10 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $256.00. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $218.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $184.24. The company has a market cap of $2.94 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.89, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect 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 dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. 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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