Patten & Patten Inc. TN Buys 4,961 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Key Points

• Patten & Patten Inc. TN increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) by 2.3%, now holding 219,776 shares valued at approximately $33.99 million.
• Wall Street analysts have mostly positive views on Alphabet, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a target price averaging $211.53, with several analysts raising their price targets recently.
• Alphabet announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, with an upcoming payment date of September 15th, representing an annualized yield of 0.4%.

Patten & Patten Inc. TN raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 2.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 219,776 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 4,961 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 2.3% of Patten & Patten Inc. TN's investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Patten & Patten Inc. TN's holdings in Alphabet were worth $33,986,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Mystic Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. now owns 28,454 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,400,000 after buying an additional 1,791 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the first quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 27,075 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,187,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,119,000. Cypress Capital LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. Cypress Capital LLC now owns 14,310 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,213,000 after purchasing an additional 563 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Optivise Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,035,000 after purchasing an additional 403 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Truist Financial reissued a "buy" rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. JMP Securities increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on Alphabet from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Alphabet from $195.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $211.53.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.2%

NASDAQ:GOOGL traded up $0.43 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $196.52. 26,014,319 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 36,916,484. The company has a market capitalization of $2.38 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company's 50 day moving average is $179.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $173.12. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS 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 $96,428,000 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

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 stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares of the company's stock, 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 is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. The trade was a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 273,219 shares of company stock valued at $49,474,273. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.