Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. Increases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,863,565 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 83,482 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $341,815,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the second quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,985 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,465,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. PCG Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. PCG Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,880 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $345,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.6% in the second quarter. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV now owns 3,636 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $667,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 11.1% in the 1st quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC now owns 600 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $91,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Shira Ridge Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% in the second quarter. Shira Ridge Wealth Management now owns 15,490 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,841,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on GOOG. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Wolfe Research upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lowered Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, June 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $182.86.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $168.40 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.83, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $121.46 and a fifty-two week high of $193.31. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $177.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $164.14.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $84.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.62 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.74, for a total transaction of $4,201,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,227,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $415,941,874.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total value 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 $50,765,346. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.74, for a total value of $4,201,650.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,227,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $415,941,874.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 156,565 shares of company stock valued at $27,253,193 over the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet 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.