St. Louis Trust Co Takes Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Key Points

• St. Louis Trust Co acquired nearly 3,000 shares of Alphabet Inc. worth approximately $455,000, marking a new investment in the company during the first quarter of this year.
• Alphabet recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21, with a record date of September 8th, representing an annualized yield of 0.43%.
• Despite some recent share sales by CEO Sundar Pichai and a director, insiders still hold 11.64% of Alphabet’s stock, highlighting ongoing confidence in the company.

St. Louis Trust Co acquired a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,944 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $455,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $47,025,322,000 after acquiring an additional 22,100,902 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $24,383,677,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 98,638,127 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $18,672,198,000 after purchasing an additional 7,574,417 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,635,878,000 after purchasing an additional 10,037,685 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Alphabet by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $13,178,470,000 after buying an additional 10,135,430 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.5%

Alphabet stock traded up $1.01 on Friday, hitting $193.18. 39,738,342 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 41,427,228. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market cap of $2.34 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.00. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $175.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $172.93. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.95%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. This represents a 1.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 243,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,213,984. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 249,409 shares of company stock valued at $43,523,710 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on GOOGL. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $211.32.

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.