American Trust Has $1.51 Million Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

American Trust raised its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.2% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 9,929 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 120 shares during the quarter. American Trust’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,512,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,716,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,355,724,000 after purchasing an additional 7,470,042 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Alphabet by 19.7% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 84,171,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,815,986,000 after acquiring an additional 13,876,534 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its position in Alphabet by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 45,731,826 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,963,128,000 after acquiring an additional 979,083 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in Alphabet by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 35,558,778 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,414,179,000 after acquiring an additional 684,968 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $4,101,040,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.86, for a total transaction of $118,572.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,209,888.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.08, for a total value of $252,120.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,391 shares in the company, valued at approximately $738,039.28. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.86, for a total value of $118,572.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,966 shares in the company, valued at $5,209,888.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 122,308 shares of company stock valued at $21,933,775 in the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of Alphabet stock traded down $4.05 on Friday, hitting $168.40. 18,907,773 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,999,430. The company has a fifty day moving average of $179.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $162.87. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $121.46 and a one year high of $193.31. The company has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 2.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.22 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 3.07%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Wolfe Research upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $182.86.

Alphabet Company 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.