Hilltop National Bank Makes New $1.02 Million Investment in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Hilltop National Bank made a new investment of $1.02 million in Alphabet Inc., acquiring 5,812 shares during the second quarter.
• Analysts have mixed perspectives on Alphabet's stock; while BNP Paribas downgraded it to a "hold" rating, others like Robert W. Baird raised their price target significantly from $215 to $275.
• Alphabet recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21, marking an annualized yield of 0.3% based on its dividend payout ratio of 8.95%.

Hilltop National Bank bought a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 5,812 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,024,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth $4,317,606,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $78,839,544,000 after purchasing an additional 14,307,345 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 307.6% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,302,644 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,593,201,000 after purchasing an additional 7,774,811 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 11.4% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 43,865,520 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $6,783,364,000 after purchasing an additional 4,473,901 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 11.8% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 33,403,871 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,034,992,000 after purchasing an additional 3,537,173 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. BNP Paribas cut shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Phillip Securities cut shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $236.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $244.62.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,213,984. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total transaction of $5,992,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,527,392 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $466,000,536.96. This trade represents a 1.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 276,738 shares of company stock worth $59,135,475 in the last 90 days. 11.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.3%

Alphabet stock opened at $241.53 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $256.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.92 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $225.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $188.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th were given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.95%.

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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