Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL is Associated Banc Corp’s 3rd Largest Position

Associated Banc Corp reduced its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 743,178 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 5,158 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 3.7% of Associated Banc Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Associated Banc Corp’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $130,970,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 516,559,609 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $91,033,300,000 after buying an additional 6,733,278 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 3.1% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 141,615,284 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $24,857,017,000 after acquiring an additional 4,224,497 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 11.4% in the first 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 valued at $6,783,364,000 after acquiring an additional 4,473,901 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Alphabet by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 43,648,514 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,749,806,000 after purchasing an additional 593,345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in Alphabet by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 39,792,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,153,481,000 after purchasing an additional 727,335 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.1%

GOOGL opened at $321.27 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.88 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.07. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $276.15 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $224.51. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $328.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.00% and a net margin of 32.23%.The business had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.28%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $375.00 target price (up from $330.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, December 1st. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $290.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. CICC Research raised their target price on Alphabet from $240.00 to $303.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Alphabet from $270.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $312.65.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.50, for a total transaction of $10,383,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,272,119 shares in the company, valued at $725,942,020.50. The trade was a 1.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.66, for a total transaction of $32,401.32. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 18,104 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,750,916.64. The trade was a 0.56% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 226,128 shares of company stock valued at $61,326,372 over the last 90 days. 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.