Scharf Investments LLC Purchases 1,084 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Scharf Investments LLC increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 8.6%, now holding a total of 13,713 shares valued at approximately $2.4 million.
• Alphabet's stock has seen recent upgrades in price targets from analysts, with JMP Securities and Barclays raising their targets to $290 and $250, respectively.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, with an annualized dividend yield of 0.3% and a payout ratio of approximately 8.95%.

Scharf Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 8.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,713 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,084 shares during the quarter. Scharf Investments LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,417,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $20,886,000 after acquiring an additional 4,110 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,826,000 after buying an additional 506 shares during the period. Copia Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $122,000. Harraden Circle Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $276,000. Finally, Anchor Pointe Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $1,015,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the topic of several recent research reports. JMP Securities increased their price target on Alphabet from $250.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. Barclays increased their price target on Alphabet from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Guggenheim increased their price target on Alphabet from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. BNP Paribas lowered Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have assigned a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $231.31.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $247.14 on Thursday. 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 business's fifty day simple moving average is $213.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $181.91. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $256.00. The firm has a market cap of $2.99 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.32, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $96.43 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%. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.95%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.73, for a total transaction of $7,466,225.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,429,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $558,219,089.16. This trade represents a 1.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. This represents a 35.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 258,088 shares of company stock worth $52,405,304. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

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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