Petrus Trust Company LTA Has $10.58 Million Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Petrus Trust Company LTA boosted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1,989.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 68,415 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 65,140 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 1.0% of Petrus Trust Company LTA’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest position. Petrus Trust Company LTA’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,580,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Mystic Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. now owns 28,454 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,400,000 after purchasing an additional 1,791 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co lifted its position in Alphabet by 0.3% during the first quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 27,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,187,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,119,000. Cypress Capital LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 4.1% during the first quarter. Cypress Capital LLC now owns 14,310 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,213,000 after acquiring an additional 563 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bridgeway Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 17.9% during the first quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 88,187 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,637,000 after acquiring an additional 13,371 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on GOOGL. Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $196.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $222.33.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of GOOGL opened at $235.00 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $235.76. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $195.79 and its 200-day moving average is $175.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.84 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The company had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.60 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.95%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,000 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $200,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,383,200. This trade represents a 12.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 254,710 shares of company stock valued at $49,208,380. 11.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.