WBI Investments LLC Purchases 8,327 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

WBI Investments LLC raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 309.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,022 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,327 shares during the period. WBI Investments LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,942,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter worth $31,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 85.7% in the 1st quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. lifted its position in Alphabet by 36.4% during the 2nd quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth about $50,000. Finally, S&T Bank PA boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 40.2% during the 2nd quarter. S&T Bank PA now owns 345 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GOOGL. Guggenheim lifted their target price on Alphabet from $280.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Alphabet from $236.00 to $268.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Mizuho set a $325.00 price target on Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Alphabet from $288.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $307.84.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.0%

GOOGL stock opened at $320.02 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $328.83. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $269.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $219.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.86 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.56, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.28%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.80, for a total transaction of $32,681.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 18,004 shares in the company, valued at $5,253,567.20. This trade represents a 0.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.26, for a total value of $800,786.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 11,739 shares in the company, valued at $3,383,884.14. The trade was a 19.14% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 225,072 shares of company stock worth $58,074,027. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.