Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. Raises Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 18.5% in Q2, owning a total of 76,719 shares valued at approximately $13.5 million.
• Insider transactions showed a 9.50% decrease in holdings by Director John L. Hennessy and a 13.84% decrease by CAO Amie Thuener O'Toole, highlighting some insider selling activity.
• Recent analyst ratings on Alphabet have been mixed, with Phillip Securities downgrading the stock while Moffett Nathanson and Citizens Jmp boosted their price targets, indicating a generally positive sentiment around its future performance.

Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 18.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 76,719 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 11,991 shares during the period. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $13,520,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Mystic Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. now owns 28,454 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,400,000 after buying an additional 1,791 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co raised its position in Alphabet by 0.3% during the first quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 27,075 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,187,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Cypress Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.1% in the first quarter. Cypress Capital LLC now owns 14,310 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,213,000 after purchasing an additional 563 shares in the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 17.9% in the first quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 88,187 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $13,637,000 after purchasing an additional 13,371 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alaethes Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Alaethes Wealth LLC now owns 7,646 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,182,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.44, for a total transaction of $149,664.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 5,716 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,425,799.04. This represents a 9.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,778 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 258,088 shares of company stock valued at $52,405,304 over the last three months. Insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Phillip Securities lowered Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Moffett Nathanson boosted their price target on Alphabet from $230.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Citizens Jmp increased their price objective on Alphabet from $250.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-three have issued a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $232.90.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $245.79 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $256.00. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $214.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $182.46. The company has a market cap of $2.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.18, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.01. 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:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The company had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. Sell-side 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. 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 payout ratio is 8.95%.

Alphabet Company 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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