St. Louis Trust Co Purchases Shares of 1,563 Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

St. Louis Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 1,563 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $218,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% during the third quarter. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. now owns 10,560 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,382,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. PDS Planning Inc lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% during the third quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 27,483 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,596,000 after purchasing an additional 705 shares in the last quarter. Trinity Street Asset Management LLP lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% during the third quarter. Trinity Street Asset Management LLP now owns 180,769 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $23,655,000 after purchasing an additional 5,088 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 2,528,818 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $330,921,000 after acquiring an additional 45,323 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FAS Wealth Partners Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.8% in the third quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 24,248 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,173,000 after acquiring an additional 654 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $169.38 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $107.19 and a one year high of $174.71. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $151.40 and a 200-day moving average of $142.83. The company has a market capitalization of $2.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a current ratio of 2.15.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $66.04 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.17 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 12.27%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Susquehanna boosted their price target on Alphabet from $170.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Wolfe Research boosted their price target on Alphabet from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Alphabet from $141.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Alphabet from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic boosted their price target on Alphabet from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $190.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.51, for a total transaction of $41,853.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,291 shares in the company, valued at $1,296,187.41. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.51, for a total transaction of $41,853.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,291 shares in the company, valued at $1,296,187.41. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.49, for a total value of $93,086.18. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 28,602 shares in the company, valued at $3,903,886.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 252,629 shares of company stock worth $37,091,240. Corporate insiders own 0.88% 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.