Stegent Equity Advisors Inc. Increases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Stegent Equity Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,355 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 1.7% of Stegent Equity Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Stegent Equity Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,552,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY lifted its stake in Alphabet by 7.4% during the first quarter. Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY now owns 24,861 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,752,000 after purchasing an additional 1,720 shares during the last quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.6% during the first quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 176,121 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,582,000 after purchasing an additional 2,727 shares during the period. Saratoga Research & Investment Management lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 19.1% in the 1st quarter. Saratoga Research & Investment Management now owns 1,001,128 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $151,100,000 after buying an additional 160,884 shares during the last quarter. First Bank & Trust raised its stake in Alphabet by 2.5% during the first quarter. First Bank & Trust now owns 9,694 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,463,000 after acquiring an additional 239 shares during the period. Finally, Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 5.7% in the first quarter. Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC now owns 21,355 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,223,000 after acquiring an additional 1,150 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $174.46 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $2.16 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $122.68 and a 12 month high of $191.75. 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 has a fifty day simple moving average of $162.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $168.78.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.55 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.30, for a total transaction of $3,741,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,106,806 shares in the company, valued at $350,361,837.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total value of $473,929.82. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 26,349 shares in the company, valued at $4,406,343.27. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.30, for a total transaction of $3,741,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,106,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $350,361,837.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 220,426 shares of company stock worth $35,993,340 in the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GOOGL. UBS Group increased their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $204.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $240.00 price objective on the stock. JMP Securities boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.51.

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.