Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Stock Holdings Lifted by Colonial Trust Advisors

Colonial Trust Advisors increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 136,463 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,741 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 2.0% of Colonial Trust Advisors’ portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Colonial Trust Advisors’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $24,049,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Silvant Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 4.7% during the second quarter. Silvant Capital Management LLC now owns 567,820 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $100,067,000 after purchasing an additional 25,443 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $21,944,208,000. General Pension Society PZU Joint Stock Co lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 20.9% during the 2nd quarter. General Pension Society PZU Joint Stock Co now owns 162,240 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $28,592,000 after buying an additional 28,000 shares in the last quarter. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $273,000. Finally, Patient Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% in the second quarter. Patient Capital Management LLC now owns 613,053 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $108,038,000 after acquiring an additional 7,361 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Down 2.4%

GOOGL opened at $313.72 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $328.83. The company has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The company has a 50 day moving average of $277.54 and a 200 day moving average of $225.91.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.41, for a total value of $7,910,825.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,402,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $584,699,785.79. This trade represents a 1.33% 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, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total transaction of $4,408,034.72. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 42,985 shares in the company, valued at $10,635,348.70. This trade represents a 29.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 226,128 shares of company stock valued at $61,326,372 in the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on GOOGL. New Street Research lifted their price target on Alphabet from $275.00 to $295.00 in a report on Friday, October 24th. Loop Capital raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $260.00 to $320.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. CICC Research increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $240.00 to $303.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 1st. Four 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, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $312.65.

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.