Cresta Advisors Ltd. Grows Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Cresta Advisors Ltd. grew its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 16.8% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 10,112 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,457 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 0.8% of Cresta Advisors Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Cresta Advisors Ltd.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,564,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Nia Impact Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Nia Impact Advisors LLC now owns 17,161 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,249,000 after buying an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Hanlon Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Hanlon Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,553 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $673,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Enzi Wealth boosted its position in Alphabet by 2.5% during the first quarter. Enzi Wealth now owns 2,561 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $408,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 1.2% during the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 5,438 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $817,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aspire Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 1.0% during the first quarter. Aspire Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,020 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,086,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the sale, the director owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at $45,213,984. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at $8,371,905.30. This represents a 35.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 274,219 shares of company stock valued at $49,674,273. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $201.96 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $182.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $173.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.44 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 8.95%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GOOGL. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Alphabet from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Alphabet from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. BNP Paribas downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Loop Capital reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 price target (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $211.53.

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.