LRI Investments LLC Purchases 38,600 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

LRI Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 263.9% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 53,227 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 38,600 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 0.8% of LRI Investments LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest holding. LRI Investments LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,828,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 43,005.6% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 18,743,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $31,086,250,000 after purchasing an additional 18,700,111 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 587.4% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,690,326 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,772,991,000 after buying an additional 9,135,056 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 116.4% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 8,670,225 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,437,957,000 after buying an additional 4,662,809 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 18,810.2% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,434,260 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $807,700,000 after acquiring an additional 4,410,811 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 91.0% during the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 7,928,470 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,450,599,000 after acquiring an additional 3,777,527 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.63, for a total transaction of $3,614,175.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,114,885 shares in the company, valued at $339,713,977.55. This represents a 1.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.84, for a total value of $230,804.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,927,257.72. This trade represents a 4.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 198,623 shares of company stock worth $34,413,006. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent research reports. China Renaissance upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $206.08.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $196.66 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $172.31 and its 200 day moving average is $170.80. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $130.66 and a 12 month high of $199.00. The company has a market capitalization of $2.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.55 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

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.