Haverford Trust Co Increases Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• Haverford Trust Co increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (GOOG) by 4.2% in Q1, holding 103,520 shares valued at approximately $16.17 million.
• Alphabet recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, with a yield of 0.4%, to be paid on September 15th.
• Alphabet's Q2 earnings exceeded expectations, reporting a net margin of 31.12% and a revenue of $96.43 billion, up 13.8% year-over-year.

Haverford Trust Co raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 4.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 103,520 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 4,204 shares during the period. Haverford Trust Co's holdings in Alphabet were worth $16,173,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Groupe la Francaise bought a new position in Alphabet during the first quarter valued at approximately $63,169,000. Courage Capital Management LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 90.9% during the first quarter. Courage Capital Management LLC now owns 10,500 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,640,000 after acquiring an additional 5,000 shares during the last quarter. Strategies Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth approximately $1,043,000. Allstate Corp grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 15.2% in the first quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 172,047 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $26,879,000 after purchasing an additional 22,753 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kestra Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% in the first quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 516,789 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $80,738,000 after purchasing an additional 11,167 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Up 3.0%

GOOG stock traded up $6.10 on Friday, reaching $206.72. The company's stock had a trading volume of 25,689,130 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,873,476. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $187.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $174.60. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $209.23. The firm has a market cap of $2.50 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.01, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The company had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.95%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOG. Lake Street Capital restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Roth Capital restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $235.00 target price (up previously from $220.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Susquehanna restated a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $215.19.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. This trade represents a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.92, for a total value of $6,497,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,462,392 shares of the company's stock, valued at $492,281,408.64. This represents a 1.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 254,719 shares of company stock worth $47,223,172. Insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

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.