Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Purchases 109,434 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 38.1% in Q1, now owning 396,382 shares valued at approximately $61.3 million, making it the firm’s 14th largest position.
• Recent insider sales include Director Kavitark Ram Shriram selling 15,000 shares for about $2.79 million, decreasing his ownership by 5.87%, and John Kent Walker selling 23,820 shares for approximately $4.64 million.
• Alphabet is currently experiencing a positive market sentiment, with a 2.5% increase in stock price, and several analysts recently raised their price targets for the company, indicating strong future potential.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 38.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 396,382 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 109,434 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 0.5% of Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $61,296,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mystic Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 6.7% during the 1st quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. now owns 28,454 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,400,000 after purchasing an additional 1,791 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co increased its stake in Alphabet by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 27,075 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,187,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,119,000. Cypress Capital LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. Cypress Capital LLC now owns 14,310 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,213,000 after purchasing an additional 563 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Optivise Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,035,000 after purchasing an additional 403 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 15,000 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director directly owned 240,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $44,656,704. This trade represents a 5.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at $8,371,905.30. The trade was a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 273,219 shares of company stock valued at $49,474,273. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Alphabet from $195.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Barclays upped their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Citizens Jmp raised Alphabet from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $211.53.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.5%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $201.42 on Friday. 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 Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.44 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.45, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.01. The stock's fifty day moving average is $180.89 and its 200 day moving average is $173.15.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $96,428,000 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. 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 (DPR) is 8.95%.

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.

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