Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Shares Purchased by American Trust

American Trust grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 106.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,842 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,049 shares during the quarter. American Trust’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,391,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the second quarter worth $68,000. Total Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $196,000. Prospera Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at $421,000. Lavaca Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Lavaca Capital LLC now owns 15,680 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,781,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the period. Finally, Stark Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter worth approximately $527,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total value of $4,408,034.72. Following the sale, the insider owned 42,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,635,348.70. This represents a 29.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.48, for a total value of $9,213,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,337,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $662,526,494.12. This trade represents a 1.37% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 225,528 shares of company stock worth $61,296,884 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on GOOG. Barclays upped their price objective on Alphabet from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Rosenblatt Securities set a $279.00 price target on Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. HSBC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $335.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $285.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $313.04.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.4%

Alphabet stock opened at $309.32 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $328.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.73 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.07. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $284.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $231.69. 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:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.12 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.28%.

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.