Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. Raises Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. significantly increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. by 837.2%, acquiring an additional 678,132 shares in the second quarter, bringing their total to 759,132 shares.
• Several institutional investors, including Kingstone Capital Partners, have also substantially increased their investments in Alphabet, with Kingstone boosting its stake by over 580,897%, now owning over 135 million shares.
• Alphabet reported earnings of $2.31 per share for the last quarter, surpassing expectations and achieving a 13.8% increase in revenue compared to the previous year.

Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 837.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 759,132 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 678,132 shares during the period. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $135,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 580,897.4% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 135,087,705 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $23,963,208,000 after purchasing an additional 135,064,454 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $2,622,943,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,570,922 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $64,299,725,000 after purchasing an additional 9,687,855 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 9.9% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 102,232,997 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $15,971,861,000 after purchasing an additional 9,243,959 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth $369,713,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $251.88 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $257.58. The stock's fifty day moving average is $231.15 and its 200 day moving average is $192.08. The stock has a market cap of $3.05 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.00. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The company had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.67 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. Alphabet's revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the topic of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Alphabet from $232.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $270.00 price target (up from $235.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. UBS Group set a $255.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Pivotal Research raised their price target on Alphabet from $245.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $210.00 price target (up from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $244.68.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $200,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,916 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,383,200. This trade represents a 12.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.50, for a total value of $8,108,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,397,392 shares in the company, valued at approximately $598,149,304. This represents a 1.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 210,872 shares of company stock valued at $46,980,865 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet 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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