L & S Advisors Inc Increases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

L & S Advisors Inc increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 2.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 56,080 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,264 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.1% of L & S Advisors Inc's portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. L & S Advisors Inc's holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,672,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the first quarter worth $28,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the first quarter worth $28,000. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Elite Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter valued at about $42,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on GOOGL. JMP Securities upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $203.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective 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. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $211.53.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.23, for a total transaction of $6,377,475.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,494,892 shares in the company, valued at $489,572,657.16. This represents a 1.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $2,786,400.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 240,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,656,704. This trade represents a 5.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 273,219 shares of company stock worth $49,474,273. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.5%

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $201.42 on Friday. The company's 50 day moving average price is $180.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $172.98. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market cap of $2.44 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.45, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS 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 $96,428,000 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.60 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

About Alphabet

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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