Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Bought by Country Trust Bank

Country Trust Bank lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 35.3% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 375,267 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 97,807 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.5% of Country Trust Bank’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Country Trust Bank’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $66,133,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Richmond Investment Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 128.8% during the second quarter. Richmond Investment Services LLC now owns 10,135 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,786,000 after purchasing an additional 5,705 shares in the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 27.3% during the 2nd quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 134,854 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $23,765,000 after buying an additional 28,948 shares during the last quarter. North Star Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. North Star Asset Management Inc. now owns 75,488 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,303,000 after acquiring an additional 1,799 shares in the last quarter. Oak Associates Ltd. OH increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 8.8% in the 2nd quarter. Oak Associates Ltd. OH now owns 206,699 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $36,427,000 after acquiring an additional 16,728 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FourThought Financial Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. FourThought Financial Partners LLC now owns 76,757 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,527,000 after acquiring an additional 1,835 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 954 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.00, for a total value of $302,418.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 11,740 shares in the company, valued at $3,721,580. This trade represents a 7.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.66, for a total transaction of $32,401.32. Following the transaction, the director owned 18,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,750,916.64. The trade was a 0.56% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 226,128 shares of company stock valued at $61,326,372 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Truist Financial set a $350.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $330.00 price target (up from $285.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $260.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $306.00 price objective (up previously from $255.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $312.65.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $321.27 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $328.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.88 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.68, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $276.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $224.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.00% and a net margin of 32.23%. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 8.28%.

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.