Trust Co of the South Acquires 898 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Trust Co of the South increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 19.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,417 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 898 shares during the period. Trust Co of the South’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $955,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Mystic Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 1,791 shares during the period. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co raised its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 27,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,187,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. Cypress Capital LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Cypress Capital LLC now owns 14,310 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,213,000 after acquiring an additional 563 shares during the period. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 17.9% in the 1st quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 88,187 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,637,000 after acquiring an additional 13,371 shares during the period. Finally, Alaethes Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Alaethes Wealth LLC now owns 7,646 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,182,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on GOOGL. JMP Securities increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Loop Capital reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 price target (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $172.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have assigned a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $221.44.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $240.80 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $201.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $177.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.91 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $242.25.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.95%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 15,000 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $2,786,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 240,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,656,704. This trade represents a 5.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. This trade represents a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 254,710 shares of company stock valued at $49,208,380. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Alphabet

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.