Soltis Investment Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Soltis Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 18.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 86,135 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,642 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.4% of Soltis Investment Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $14,285,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Lantz Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.8% during the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 4,622 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $842,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. Spectrum Wealth Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter worth $218,000. Archford Capital Strategies LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 4.5% during the second quarter. Archford Capital Strategies LLC now owns 32,844 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,983,000 after acquiring an additional 1,417 shares during the last quarter. Welch Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the second quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 53,369 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,721,000 after acquiring an additional 353 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 47,515 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,655,000 after acquiring an additional 740 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Roth Mkm upped their target price on Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 price target (up from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Loop Capital increased their target price on Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $206.69.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.84, for a total transaction of $230,804.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,927,257.72. The trade was a 4.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total transaction of $75,437.46. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at $2,820,779.40. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 178,957 shares of company stock valued at $31,358,687 in the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $188.40 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $130.66 and a 52 week high of $201.42. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $173.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $171.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market cap of $2.31 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.55 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 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.