AdvisorShares Investments LLC Acquires Shares of 2,797 Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

AdvisorShares Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 2,797 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $512,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised 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 valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at about $30,000. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Denver PWM LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at about $41,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $162.29 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $120.21 and a 12-month high of $191.75. The stock has a market cap of $2.01 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The business’s 50 day moving average is $163.80 and its 200-day moving average is $166.17.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.60 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.44 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.27%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.84, for a total value of $4,113,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,204,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $403,141,173.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.84, for a total value of $4,113,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,204,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $403,141,173.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The shares were 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 directly owns 9 shares in the company, valued at $1,655.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 180,867 shares of company stock worth $29,878,106. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on GOOGL. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, August 30th. Wolfe Research began coverage on Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $240.00 price objective for the company. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $206.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Argus boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, September 16th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.08.

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.