Clare Market Investments LLC Buys 1,279 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Clare Market Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 88,494 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,279 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 3.4% of Clare Market Investments LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Clare Market Investments LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $15,595,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $78,839,544,000 after buying an additional 14,307,345 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 11.4% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 43,865,520 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,783,364,000 after buying an additional 4,473,901 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 43,648,514 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,749,806,000 after buying an additional 593,345 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 39,792,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,153,481,000 after buying an additional 727,335 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 38,556,577 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,962,389,000 after buying an additional 104,859 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 42,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,371,905.30. The trade was a 35.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the sale, the director directly owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 258,088 shares of company stock worth $52,405,304. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on Alphabet from $196.00 to $201.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Alphabet from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Westpark Capital lifted their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Guggenheim lifted their target price on Alphabet from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have issued a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $225.54.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.1%

Alphabet stock opened at $254.72 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $256.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The company has a market capitalization of $3.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.13, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $209.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $180.36.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

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.