American Trust Raises Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

American Trust grew its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Get Rating) by 2,128.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,570 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,320 shares during the quarter. American Trust’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $533,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1,919.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 477,035,902 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $45,628,484,000 after purchasing an additional 453,413,389 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 1,900.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 217,154,306 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $20,770,809,000 after buying an additional 206,300,042 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 1,759.2% during the 3rd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 116,116,066 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,106,502,000 after buying an additional 109,870,525 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 1,955.0% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 61,134,061 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,847,474,000 after buying an additional 58,159,150 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 1,896.9% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 58,060,946 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,553,529,000 after buying an additional 55,153,448 shares during the period. 34.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder 2021 Gp L.L.C. Gv purchased 415,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $29.29 per share, with a total value of $12,155,350.00. Following the acquisition, the insider now owns 1,709,527 shares in the company, valued at $50,072,045.83. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, major shareholder 2021 Gp L.L.C. Gv acquired 415,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $29.29 per share, with a total value of $12,155,350.00. Following the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 1,709,527 shares in the company, valued at $50,072,045.83. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total transaction of $3,750,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 144,740 shares in the company, valued at $14,474,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 74,245 shares of company stock valued at $7,174,078. Company insiders own 11.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $132.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday. MKM Partners lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $120.00 to $126.00 in a report on Friday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 3rd. KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $118.00 to $117.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 30th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $116.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 31st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $132.32.

Alphabet Stock Up 4.4 %

GOOGL stock opened at $100.32 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $94.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $96.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.28 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.09. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $83.34 and a 12 month high of $143.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 2.38 and a quick ratio of 2.34.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 2nd. The information services provider reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.14 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $76.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $63.15 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 21.20% and a return on equity of 23.54%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.53 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 5.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Company Profile

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Alphabet, Inc engages in the business of delivering online advertising, cloud-based solutions that provide enterprise customers with infrastructure and platform services, the provision of communication and collaboration tools, and sales of other products and services such as apps and in-app purchases, hardware, and subscription-based products.