William Blair Investment Management LLC Purchases 212,150 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,905,442 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 212,150 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 3.8% of William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,439,976,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its position in Alphabet by 75.0% during the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth $30,000. Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Denver PWM LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the second quarter worth about $41,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $163.95 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $120.21 and a 1 year high of $191.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.03 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $163.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $166.11.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.44 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share 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 issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total transaction of $125,126.54. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 30,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,623,355.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 30,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,623,355.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total value of $600,175.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,655.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 180,867 shares of company stock valued at $29,878,106 in the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. DA Davidson assumed coverage on Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 price target on the stock. Mizuho increased their target price on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $196.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.35.

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.