Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stake Increased by American Trust

American Trust boosted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 16.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 28,332 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,903 shares during the quarter. American Trust's holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,363,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,119,000. Optivise Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,035,000 after acquiring an additional 403 shares during the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. grew its stake in Alphabet by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $8,741,000 after acquiring an additional 2,790 shares during the last quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd grew its stake in Alphabet by 30.0% in the 4th quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $11,816,000 after acquiring an additional 14,262 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Absolute Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $401,000 after acquiring an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.3%

NASDAQ GOOGL traded down $0.54 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $172.36. The company's stock had a trading volume of 34,427,314 shares, compared to its average volume of 35,650,043. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $158.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $174.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.09 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $199.75.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 261,966 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,844,050. This trade represents a 3.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 164,654 shares of company stock worth $26,793,380 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

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.