St. Clair Advisors LLC Purchases 2,885 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• St. Clair Advisors LLC increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 14.9%, purchasing an additional 2,885 shares in the second quarter, bringing their total holdings to 22,295 shares valued at approximately $3.93 million.
• Insider transactions revealed significant sales, including John Kent Walker selling 23,820 shares worth about $4.64 million and CEO Sundar Pichai selling 32,500 shares worth roughly $6.50 million.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Alphabet, with Bank of America setting a target of $217 and JPMorgan Chase increasing it to $232, while the consensus price target stands at $221.44.

St. Clair Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 14.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,295 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,885 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 1.0% of St. Clair Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. St. Clair Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,929,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Accelerate Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.8% during the second quarter. Accelerate Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,355 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $591,000 after acquiring an additional 214 shares during the last quarter. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 7.3% during the second quarter. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC now owns 57,855 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,173,000 after acquiring an additional 3,938 shares during the last quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 10.4% in the second quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 409,745 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $72,209,000 after buying an additional 38,608 shares in the last quarter. Verde Capital Management bought a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter worth about $263,000. Finally, Somerset Trust Co raised its stake in Alphabet by 6.2% in the second quarter. Somerset Trust Co now owns 8,465 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,492,000 after buying an additional 493 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $196.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have issued a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $221.44.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. This trade represents a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.92, for a total transaction of $6,497,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,462,392 shares in the company, valued at $492,281,408.64. The trade was a 1.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 254,710 shares of company stock valued at $49,208,380 over the last three months. Insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $240.80 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $242.25. The company has a market cap of $2.91 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.01. The company's 50 day moving average is $201.89 and its 200 day moving average is $177.58.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released 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. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is 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%.

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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