BNP Paribas Buys 26,246 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

BNP Paribas lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 6.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 433,193 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 26,246 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 2.5% of BNP Paribas’ portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. BNP Paribas’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $76,918,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 400.0% during the 2nd quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Robbins Farley raised its position in Alphabet by 60.0% in the second quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 160 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 58.7% during the second quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Fairman Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 121.3% during the second quarter. Fairman Group LLC now owns 177 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.15, for a total transaction of $8,129,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,369,619 shares in the company, valued at approximately $592,760,192.85. This represents a 1.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total value of $4,408,034.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 42,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,635,348.70. The trade was a 29.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 228,906 shares of company stock worth $62,127,158. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $321.00 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $328.67. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $281.13 and its 200-day moving average is $228.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.87 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.66, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.12 EPS. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 8th will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.28%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Alphabet from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Truist Financial set a $350.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, December 5th. HSBC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $335.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Pivotal Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 target price (up previously from $350.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $285.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $310.54.

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.