Provident Trust Co. Has $537.81 Million Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Provident Trust Co. reduced its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 0.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,442,441 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 31,603 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 10.0% of Provident Trust Co.'s holdings, making the stock its biggest position. Provident Trust Co.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $537,813,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $5,166,070,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 18,562.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,323,323 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,237,733,000 after purchasing an additional 14,246,573 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,551,533,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Alphabet by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,873,751,000 after buying an additional 7,917,625 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 181,679.1% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,376,066,000 after buying an additional 7,221,746 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. Barclays reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Piper Sandler restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Tigress Financial reiterated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Citigroup reissued a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and six have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $207.13.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. This represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,192,275. This represents a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 215,443 shares of company stock valued at $36,298,548 in the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $0.29 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $183.10. The stock had a trading volume of 23,868,767 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,495,318. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $171.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $174.68. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The firm has a market cap of $2.22 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

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.