Waddell & Associates LLC Grows Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Waddell & Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,497 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 137 shares during the quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,183,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,620 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $295,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Hengehold Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 7,224 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,316,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 75.0% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC now owns 6,624 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,000,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sunflower Bank N.A. lifted its position in Alphabet by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 6,309 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,149,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Loop Capital reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $170.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $220.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and set a $206.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.08.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total value of $5,570,188.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,765,346. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total value of $5,570,188.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,765,346. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total transaction of $125,126.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 30,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,623,355.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 180,167 shares of company stock valued at $29,762,606. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $163.59 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $164.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $165.79. The company has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $120.21 and a 1 year high of $191.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.44 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.64 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

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.