Balefire LLC Invests $1.71 Million in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Balefire LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 9,707 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,711,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Inspirion Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Inspirion Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,691 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $650,000 after buying an additional 91 shares during the period. Wolff Financial Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 2.6% during the second quarter. Wolff Financial Management LLC now owns 2,632 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $464,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Alesco Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 18.6% during the 2nd quarter. Alesco Advisors LLC now owns 5,448 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $960,000 after buying an additional 856 shares during the last quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC now owns 57,460 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,126,000 after purchasing an additional 1,229 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Alliance LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 12.6% in the second quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 81,055 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $14,284,000 after buying an additional 9,057 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.6%

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $249.53 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $253.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The company has a market capitalization of $3.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $206.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $179.14.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.60 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th were given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.95%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group upped their price objective on Alphabet from $192.00 to $202.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Alphabet from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Citizens Jmp upgraded Alphabet from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, June 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have assigned a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $222.85.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $680,610.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 17,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,236,785. This trade represents a 13.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the firm’s 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. The trade was a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 258,088 shares of company stock worth $52,405,304. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

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.