Blue Trust Inc. Boosts Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 4.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 44,461 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 2,015 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,875,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,119,000. Optivise Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,035,000 after purchasing an additional 403 shares during the period. Community Bank N.A. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 6.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 2,790 shares in the last quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd increased its stake in Alphabet by 30.0% during the 4th quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $11,816,000 after buying an additional 14,262 shares during the period. Finally, Absolute Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $401,000 after buying an additional 258 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.68, for a total transaction of $5,742,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,555,196 shares in the company, valued at $451,452,029.28. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total transaction of $32,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,613 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,232,544.70. The trade was a 2.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 228,070 shares of company stock worth $37,745,632. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $166.64 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $164.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $174.73. The company has a market capitalization of $2.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.58, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. DA Davidson lowered their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $178.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating and set a $200.00 price objective (down from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $189.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $199.75.

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.

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