Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Bought by Smart Money Group LLC

Smart Money Group LLC grew its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 7.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,644 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 463 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 0.4% of Smart Money Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Smart Money Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,171,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $4,317,606,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $78,839,544,000 after purchasing an additional 14,307,345 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 11.4% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 43,865,520 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,783,364,000 after purchasing an additional 4,473,901 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its holdings in Alphabet by 11.8% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 33,403,871 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,034,992,000 after buying an additional 3,537,173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Evergreen Quality Fund GP Ltd. raised its stake in Alphabet by 178.3% in the first quarter. Evergreen Quality Fund GP Ltd. now owns 4,003,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $619,163,000 after buying an additional 2,565,400 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on Alphabet from $224.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $320.00 price target (up from $245.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $330.00 price objective (up previously from $285.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. China Renaissance boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $207.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Moffett Nathanson increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $305.33.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $284.28 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $259.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $211.00. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $3.43 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $293.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. The company had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 36.08% and a net margin of 32.23%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 8.28%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.15, for a total transaction of $8,129,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,369,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $592,760,192.85. This represents a 1.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total value of $4,408,034.72. Following the transaction, the insider owned 42,985 shares in the company, valued at $10,635,348.70. The trade was a 29.30% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 189,896 shares of company stock worth $47,653,637. 11.64% of the stock is owned by 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.