Independence Bank of Kentucky Acquires 1,851 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Independence Bank of Kentucky boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 91,576 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,851 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 2.3% of Independence Bank of Kentucky’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Independence Bank of Kentucky’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $16,138,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $20,886,000 after buying an additional 4,110 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,826,000 after buying an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 11,267,743 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,742,444,000 after buying an additional 86,670 shares in the last quarter. Matrix Trust Co lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 38.7% during the 1st quarter. Matrix Trust Co now owns 1,322 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $204,000 after buying an additional 369 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vest Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 768.3% during the 1st quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 215,559 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $33,334,000 after buying an additional 190,733 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GOOGL. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Moffett Nathanson raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-three have issued a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $240.76.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $245.35 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year 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 $2.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.13, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.00. The company’s fifty day moving average is $221.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $185.80.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated 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 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total transaction of $5,992,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,527,392 shares in the company, valued at approximately $466,000,536.96. The trade was a 1.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 276,738 shares of company stock valued at $59,135,475. 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.