LeConte Wealth Management LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• LeConte Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 52.8% during the 2nd quarter, bringing its total shares to 5,139 and making it the 25th largest holding in their portfolio.
• Multiple hedge funds have also adjusted their positions in Alphabet, with Nuveen LLC making a substantial purchase valued at approximately $4.32 billion.
• Equities analysts have raised their price targets for Alphabet, with Truist Financial increasing their target from $225.00 to $285.00 and three analysts rating the stock as a Strong Buy.

LeConte Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 52.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 5,139 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 1,775 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 0.6% of LeConte Wealth Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. LeConte Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $906,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $4,317,606,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $78,839,544,000 after purchasing an additional 14,307,345 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 307.6% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,302,644 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,593,201,000 after purchasing an additional 7,774,811 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 11.4% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 43,865,520 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,783,364,000 after purchasing an additional 4,473,901 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 11.8% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 33,403,871 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,034,992,000 after purchasing an additional 3,537,173 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $270.00 price target (up from $235.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, Melius Research raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $255.00 in a research report on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-three have assigned a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $233.44.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $246.54 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The firm has a market cap of $2.98 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $215.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $183.28. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $256.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,778 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $680,610.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 17,293 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,236,785. The trade was a 13.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.44, for a total transaction of $149,664.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 5,716 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,425,799.04. The trade was a 9.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 257,866 shares of company stock worth $52,363,610 in the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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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