Advisors Capital Management LLC Increases Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Advisors Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 398,885 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,933 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 1.0% of Advisors Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Advisors Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $61,684,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $20,886,000 after purchasing an additional 4,110 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,826,000 after acquiring an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE increased its holdings in Alphabet by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 29,100 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,509,000 after acquiring an additional 1,003 shares during the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP increased its holdings in Alphabet by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 79,160 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $14,985,000 after acquiring an additional 4,756 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Triumph Capital Management increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Triumph Capital Management now owns 5,470 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,036,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.92, for a total transaction of $6,497,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,462,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $492,281,408.64. The trade was a 1.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,371,905.30. The trade was a 35.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 254,710 shares of company stock worth $49,208,380 over the last three months. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.2%

GOOGL stock opened at $239.17 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.89 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.47, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $241.66. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $199.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $176.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. On average, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $270.00 price objective (up previously from $235.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have issued a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $221.44.

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.