Busey Bank Trims Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Busey Bank reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 2.4% in the second quarter, now holding 172,502 shares valued at approximately $30.4 million, making it the bank's 23rd largest position.
• Alphabet recently paid a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 0.3% and a payout ratio of 8.95%.
• The company's stock has fluctuated between a fifty-two week high of $256.00 and a low of $140.53, with a current price of $252.53.

Busey Bank cut its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 172,502 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 4,228 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 0.9% of Busey Bank's holdings, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Busey Bank's holdings in Alphabet were worth $30,400,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $20,886,000 after buying an additional 4,110 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,826,000 after buying an additional 506 shares during the period. Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $1,233,000. Financial Advisory Corp bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $428,000. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $545,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.9%

GOOGL stock opened at $252.53 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $256.00. The business's 50 day moving average price is $210.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $180.96. 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 company has a market capitalization of $3.05 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.01.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 8.95%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.73, for a total transaction of $7,466,225.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,429,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $558,219,089.16. This represents a 1.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 258,088 shares of company stock worth $52,405,304 over the last quarter. Insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Roth Capital lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Alphabet from $225.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday. JMP Securities lifted their price target on Alphabet from $250.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Alphabet from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $231.31.

Alphabet Company 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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