Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. Grows Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Get Rating) by 1,960.9% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,384,583 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,220,358 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 0.7% of Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $323,735,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Spreng Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Spreng Capital Management Inc. now owns 131 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $364,000 after buying an additional 5 shares during the period. WP Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. WP Advisors LLC now owns 239 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $521,000 after buying an additional 5 shares during the period. Grand Central Investment Group lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Grand Central Investment Group now owns 362 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $789,000 after buying an additional 5 shares during the period. Ignite Planners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Ignite Planners LLC now owns 351 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $834,000 after buying an additional 5 shares during the period. Finally, Kaizen Financial Strategies lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Kaizen Financial Strategies now owns 759 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,654,000 after buying an additional 5 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 34.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on GOOGL shares. Bank of America reduced their price target on Alphabet from $125.00 to $114.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 4th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Alphabet to $120.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 27th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $140.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 26th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 21st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $160.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 22nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $132.00.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv bought 800,000 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 24th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $17.00 per share, for a total transaction of $13,600,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 11,522,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $195,878,216. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 22,203 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.75, for a total transaction of $1,992,719.25. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 76,579 shares in the company, valued at $6,872,965.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv acquired 800,000 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, October 24th. The shares were bought at an average price of $17.00 per share, for a total transaction of $13,600,000.00. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 11,522,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $195,878,216. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have bought 1,461,702 shares of company stock worth $36,999,217 and have sold 190,744 shares worth $8,564,640. 11.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $92.12 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $83.34 and a twelve month high of $151.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.19 trillion, a P/E ratio of 18.29, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 2.52, a quick ratio of 2.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $92.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $102.19.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 25th. The information services provider reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by ($0.19). Alphabet had a net margin of 23.75% and a return on equity of 26.41%. The firm had revenue of $57.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.36 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.40 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 4.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Company Profile

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Alphabet Inc provides 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 offers products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, hardware, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.