American National Bank of Texas Acquires Shares of 3,694 Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

American National Bank of Texas bought a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 3,694 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $900,000. Alphabet comprises approximately 0.8% of American National Bank of Texas’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 580,897.4% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 135,087,705 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $23,963,208,000 after purchasing an additional 135,064,454 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at about $4,298,572,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 416,753,033 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $73,927,821,000 after acquiring an additional 5,182,111 shares during the period. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17,547.9% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,122,727 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $731,331,000 after purchasing an additional 4,099,366 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 330.4% in the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,989,463 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $707,691,000 after purchasing an additional 3,062,590 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $309.32 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $328.67. 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’s fifty day moving average is $284.91 and its 200 day moving average is $231.69. The company has a market cap of $3.73 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.50, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.12 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 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 of this dividend was Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. The trade was a 11.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.50, for a total value of $10,383,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,272,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $725,942,020.50. This represents a 1.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 225,528 shares of company stock valued at $61,296,884 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Alphabet from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $335.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $330.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, DA Davidson set a $300.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Seven equities 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 issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $313.04.

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.