Lord & Richards Wealth Management LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Lord & Richards Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 38.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,099 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,410 shares during the period. Lord & Richards Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $899,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 242.9% during the first quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. IMA Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 85.7% during the 1st quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the period. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 36.4% during the 2nd quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at about $50,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.73, for a total transaction of $7,466,225.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,429,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $558,219,089.16. This trade represents a 1.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total transaction of $4,408,034.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,985 shares in the company, valued at $10,635,348.70. This trade represents a 29.30% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 221,796 shares of company stock worth $53,983,001 in the last three months. 11.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GOOGL. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $315.00 price objective (up from $250.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $306.00 price target (up from $255.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $280.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their target price on Alphabet from $190.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $304.10.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $276.41 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The company has a fifty day moving average of $257.24 and a 200 day moving average of $208.93. The company has a market capitalization of $3.34 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $292.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. The business 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%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.28%.

Alphabet Company 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.