Patton Fund Management Inc. Purchases New Shares in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Patton Fund Management Inc. has acquired 1,359 shares of Alphabet Inc. valued at approximately $239,000 during the 2nd quarter.
• Other major institutional investors, such as Vanguard Group Inc. and UBS AM, have significantly increased their stakes in Alphabet in the first quarter of this year.
• Alphabet's CEO, Sundar Pichai, recently sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock for nearly $6 million, while insider sales totalled over $46 million in the last quarter.

Patton Fund Management Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 1,359 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $239,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $78,839,544,000 after buying an additional 14,307,345 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 11.4% during the 1st 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 valued at $6,783,364,000 after acquiring an additional 4,473,901 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 43,648,514 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,749,806,000 after acquiring an additional 593,345 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 39,792,300 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $6,153,481,000 after acquiring an additional 727,335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 38,556,577 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,962,389,000 after acquiring an additional 104,859 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total value of $5,992,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,527,392 shares of the company's stock, valued at $466,000,536.96. This represents a 1.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,778 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total transaction of $680,610.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 17,293 shares in the company, valued at $4,236,785. This represents a 13.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 225,469 shares of company stock valued at $46,586,752. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $270.00 target price (up from $235.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Roth Capital increased their price objective on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, September 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-three have assigned a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $235.63.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.4%

Alphabet stock opened at $243.10 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $256.00. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $218.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $184.24. The firm has a market cap of $2.94 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The company 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 year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th were given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

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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