Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by Legacy Trust

Legacy Trust reduced its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 8.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 50,268 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 4,355 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 2.2% of Legacy Trust’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Legacy Trust’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,859,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $4,317,606,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $78,839,544,000 after purchasing an additional 14,307,345 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 11.4% during the 1st 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 purchasing an additional 4,473,901 shares during the period. Amundi increased its position in Alphabet by 11.8% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 33,403,871 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,034,992,000 after buying an additional 3,537,173 shares during the period. Finally, Evergreen Quality Fund GP Ltd. increased its position in Alphabet by 178.3% in the first quarter. Evergreen Quality Fund GP Ltd. now owns 4,003,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $619,163,000 after buying an additional 2,565,400 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. HSBC initiated coverage on Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $285.00 target price on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $191.00 to $224.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Melius Research raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $255.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $236.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $247.40.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $244.15 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $227.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $189.47. 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 firm has a market cap of $2.95 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.00, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $256.00.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.95%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. This trade represents a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.23, for a total transaction of $6,377,475.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,494,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $489,572,657.16. The trade was a 1.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 276,338 shares of company stock worth $59,062,683. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Company 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.