Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Key Points

• Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC has acquired a new stake in Alphabet Inc. worth approximately $724,000 by purchasing 4,680 shares.
• Several institutional investors increased their holdings in Alphabet, with Hudson Value Partners LLC raising its stake by 22.7% in the fourth quarter.
• Alphabet's recent earnings report showed an EPS of $2.31, exceeding analyst estimates, alongside a quarterly dividend announcement of $0.21 per share to be paid on September 15th.

Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 4,680 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $724,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 242.9% in the first quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the first quarter worth about $28,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the first quarter worth about $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 85.7% in the first quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the first quarter worth about $39,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Westpark Capital raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Roth Capital lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $211.53.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock traded up $0.96 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $203.90. The stock had a trading volume of 34,909,706 shares, compared to its average volume of 37,799,464. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $184.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $173.20. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $207.05. The company has a market cap of $2.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 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 released 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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. The firm had revenue of $96,428,000 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.23, for a total transaction of $6,377,475.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,494,892 shares in the company, valued at $489,572,657.16. This represents a 1.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $2,786,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 274,819 shares of company stock valued at $49,796,547. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Company 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.