Legacy Capital Group California Inc. Increases Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Legacy Capital Group California Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 15.1% during Q2, owning a total of 16,907 shares now valued at approximately $2.98 million.
• Multiple institutional investors, including Vanguard Group Inc. and UBS AM, also boosted their stakes in Alphabet, reflecting strong confidence in the company.
• Wall Street analysts are optimistic, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $231.31 for Alphabet shares, after recent upgrades from several firms.

Legacy Capital Group California Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 15.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 16,907 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,216 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 0.8% of Legacy Capital Group California Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Legacy Capital Group California Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,980,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $78,839,544,000 after buying an additional 14,307,345 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 11.4% in the first 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 worth $6,783,364,000 after buying an additional 4,473,901 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 43,648,514 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $6,749,806,000 after buying an additional 593,345 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 39,792,300 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $6,153,481,000 after buying an additional 727,335 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 38,556,577 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,962,389,000 after buying an additional 104,859 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the topic of several analyst reports. JMP Securities upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $250.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price 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. 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. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $191.00 to $224.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have assigned a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $231.31.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $3,448,820.16. Following the sale, the director directly owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at $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 is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,778 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total transaction of $680,610.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 17,293 shares in the company, valued at $4,236,785. The trade was a 13.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 258,088 shares of company stock worth $52,405,304. 11.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $247.14 on Thursday. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $213.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $181.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.99 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $256.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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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