Commonwealth Financial Services LLC Grows Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Commonwealth Financial Services LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 14.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,686 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,106 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,343,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nia Impact Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Nia Impact Advisors LLC now owns 17,161 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,249,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Hanlon Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Hanlon Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,553 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $673,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Enzi Wealth grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% in the first quarter. Enzi Wealth now owns 2,561 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $408,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% in the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 5,438 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $817,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aspire Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% in the first quarter. Aspire Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,020 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,086,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on GOOGL. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $211.53.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $2,786,400.00. Following the sale, the director owned 240,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,656,704. This trade represents a 5.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. This trade represents a 35.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 274,219 shares of company stock valued at $49,674,273 over the last three months. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.7%

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $201.96 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.44 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $182.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $173.22. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The company had revenue of $96,428,000 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

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.