Country Trust Bank Increases Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Country Trust Bank grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 35.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 375,267 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 97,807 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 1.5% of Country Trust Bank’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Country Trust Bank’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $66,133,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 6,733,278 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 141,615,284 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $24,857,017,000 after purchasing an additional 4,224,497 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 4,473,901 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 43,648,514 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,749,806,000 after purchasing an additional 593,345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in Alphabet by 1.9% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 39,792,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,153,481,000 after buying an additional 727,335 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on Alphabet in a report on Monday, November 24th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $355.00 target price for the company. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 price target (up previously from $245.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $224.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $312.65.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.06, for a total transaction of $168,036.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 4,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,264,750.96. This represents a 11.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 954 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.00, for a total value of $302,418.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 11,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,721,580. This represents a 7.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 226,128 shares of company stock worth $61,326,372 over the last quarter. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $321.27 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $276.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $224.51. The company 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. 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 quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

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.