Grunden Financial Advisory Inc. Purchases Shares of 1,151 Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Grunden Financial Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,151 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $210,000. Alphabet comprises about 0.1% of Grunden Financial Advisory Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 14.4% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 57,803,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,724,251,000 after purchasing an additional 7,275,757 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 493,810,251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $68,980,354,000 after buying an additional 6,374,756 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado grew its stake in Alphabet by 39,754.9% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 6,025,667 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $841,725,000 after buying an additional 6,010,548 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 143.7% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,072,197 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,288,201,000 after acquiring an additional 4,170,229 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 91.0% in 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Wolfe Research started coverage on Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $240.00 price objective on the stock. Loop Capital reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $170.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $206.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.35.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.7 %

Alphabet stock opened at $163.95 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $120.21 and a 12-month high of $191.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 2.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.03 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $162.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $166.68.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The firm had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.60 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.44 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total value of $125,126.54. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 30,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,623,355.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,765,346. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total value of $125,126.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 30,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,623,355.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 177,605 shares of company stock valued at $29,277,931. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.