LJI Wealth Management LLC Raises Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

LJI Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 21.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,622 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,322 shares during the period. LJI Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,264,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 75.0% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth about $36,000. Denver PWM LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth about $41,000. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth about $53,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth about $55,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total transaction of $1,898,190.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 330,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $59,741,643.48. This trade represents a 3.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.68, for a total transaction of $3,570,300.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,137,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $339,160,251.80. The trade was a 1.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 206,795 shares of company stock worth $34,673,866 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.2 %

GOOGL opened at $168.95 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.03. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $168.47 and its 200-day moving average is $170.33. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $127.90 and a 52-week high of $191.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on GOOGL. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. DA Davidson assumed coverage on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 target price on the stock. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.90.

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.