BankPlus Trust Department Increases Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

BankPlus Trust Department increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 16.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,674 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 662 shares during the quarter. BankPlus Trust Department’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $824,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. Missouri Trust & Investment Co raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co now owns 16,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,981,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.9% in the second quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 6,477 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,141,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Bfsg LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.6% in the second quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 10,428 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,838,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Financial Council LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.0% in the second quarter. Financial Council LLC now owns 5,800 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,022,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Enzi Wealth increased its holdings in Alphabet by 2.5% in the first quarter. Enzi Wealth now owns 2,561 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $408,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.50, for a total transaction of $8,108,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,397,392 shares in the company, valued at approximately $598,149,304. This represents a 1.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total transaction of $680,610.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 17,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,236,785. The trade was a 13.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 210,872 shares of company stock valued at $46,980,865. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $251.46 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $230.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $190.95. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $256.96. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $3.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.78, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.00.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th were paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.95%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Wolfe Research upped their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Melius Research raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $255.00 in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $250.57.

About Alphabet

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.