Stokes Capital Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Stokes Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. by 99.1% in Q2, acquiring an additional 12,020 shares, bringing their total to 24,149 shares valued at approximately $4.26 million.
• Several analysts have raised their price targets for Alphabet, with Citigroup setting a new target of $280, indicating a positive outlook for the company's stock.
• Alphabet's recent quarter earnings surpassed expectations, reporting $2.31 earnings per share and $96.43 billion in revenue.

Stokes Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 99.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 24,149 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 12,020 shares during the quarter. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,256,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Enzi Wealth grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% in the first quarter. Enzi Wealth now owns 2,561 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $408,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Wolff Financial Management LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Wolff Financial Management LLC now owns 2,632 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $464,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. Whipplewood Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 5,438 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $817,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. Aspire Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Aspire Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,020 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,086,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rainey & Randall Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Rainey & Randall Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 3,209 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $496,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Citigroup boosted their target price on Alphabet from $225.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $192.00 to $202.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Susquehanna boosted 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. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $191.00 to $224.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, JMP Securities upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Three research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $224.51.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.73, for a total value of $7,466,225.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,429,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at $558,219,089.16. This represents a 1.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 258,088 shares of company stock worth $52,405,304 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL opened at $252.03 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.05 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.01. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $207.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $179.73. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $253.99.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

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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