Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Purchased by SouthState Corp

Key Points

• SouthState Corp increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 14.6% during the first quarter, owning 75,755 shares valued at approximately $11.7 million.
• Alphabet reported $2.31 earnings per share for its latest quarter, outperforming analysts’ expectations of $2.15 with revenue of $96.43 billion.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, which will be paid on September 15th, representing an annualized yield of 0.4%.

SouthState Corp raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 14.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 75,755 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 9,646 shares during the period. SouthState Corp's holdings in Alphabet were worth $11,715,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 242.9% during the first quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter worth about $28,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter worth about $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 85.7% during the first quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter worth about $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL traded down $2.25 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $199.32. 28,901,311 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 35,460,480. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The company has a market capitalization of $2.41 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.23, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The firm's 50-day moving average is $185.70 and its 200-day moving average is $173.38.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $96,428,000 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal 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. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on GOOGL shares. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. BNP Paribas cut shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $211.53.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at $45,213,984. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at $8,371,905.30. The trade was a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 242,319 shares of company stock worth $44,243,272 in the last ninety days. 11.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.