Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Position Lifted by City Holding Co.

Key Points

• City Holding Co. increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. by 1.0% during the second quarter, making Alphabet its 6th biggest position in the portfolio.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Alphabet, with Wolfe Research setting a new target of $290.00 and multiple others issuing Buy ratings, contributing to an average target price of $240.76.
• Alphabet recently paid a quarterly dividend of $0.21, reflecting an annualized dividend yield of 0.3% and a low payout ratio of 8.95%.

City Holding Co. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 1.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 109,538 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,072 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 2.5% of City Holding Co.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. City Holding Co.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $19,304,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 242.9% during the 1st quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. IMA Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 85.7% during the 1st quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth $39,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research increased their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $290.00 in a report on Tuesday. BNP Paribas Exane reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $172.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, June 27th. Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $270.00 target price (up previously from $235.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, Westpark Capital raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-three have issued a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $240.76.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.1%

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $245.35 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $256.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The stock has a market cap of $2.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.13, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.00. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $221.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $185.80.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 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, September 8th. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 953 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.20, for a total transaction of $229,863.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 17,294 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,171,312.80. The trade was a 5.22% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.41, for a total transaction of $7,910,825.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,402,119 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $584,699,785.79. This represents a 1.33% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 276,738 shares of company stock worth $59,135,475 in the last 90 days. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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