D.A. Davidson & CO. Raises Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 427,320 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,423 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 0.7% of D.A. Davidson & CO.’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $77,836,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.6% in the second quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,620 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $295,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the second quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 7,224 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,316,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 75.0% in the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% during 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 period. Finally, Sunflower Bank N.A. boosted its stake 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 worth $1,149,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. Loop Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $170.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $220.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $176.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.76.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $157.46 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $120.21 and a 12-month high of $191.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.94 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $167.46 and its 200 day moving average is $164.67.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.44 EPS. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.27%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.40, for a total value of $3,991,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,213,011 shares in the company, valued at $392,588,151.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.40, for a total transaction of $3,991,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,213,011 shares in the company, valued at $392,588,151.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total value of $600,175.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,655.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 179,367 shares of company stock valued at $30,016,931. 11.55% of the stock is currently 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.