Seneca House Advisors Raises Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Seneca House Advisors increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) by 10.7%, owning a total of 74,393 shares, which represents about 5.6% of its investment portfolio.
• Alphabet's stock has received favorable ratings from analysts, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $222.85.
• CEO Sundar Pichai recently sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet at an average price of $229.73, indicating a 1.32% decrease in his holding.

Seneca House Advisors grew its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 10.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 74,393 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 7,215 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 5.6% of Seneca House Advisors' investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Seneca House Advisors' holdings in Alphabet were worth $13,110,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the first quarter worth about $4,317,606,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 16,993.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,062,457 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,483,898,000 after acquiring an additional 15,968,487 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 2.9% during 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 acquiring an additional 14,307,345 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Alphabet by 307.6% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,302,644 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,593,201,000 after acquiring an additional 7,774,811 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $1,375,509,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Loop Capital reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $190.00 price target (up from $165.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective 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. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, September 13th. BNP Paribas Exane reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $172.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Finally, JMP Securities increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have issued a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $222.85.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $249.53 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $206.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $179.14. The firm has a market cap of $3.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $253.04. 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 data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.73, for a total transaction of $7,466,225.00. Following the completion of 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 42,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,371,905.30. This represents a 35.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 258,088 shares of company stock worth $52,405,304 in the last 90 days. 11.64% of the stock is owned by company 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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