Provident Trust Co. Has $539.63 Million Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Provident Trust Co. lowered its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,863,076 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 43,959 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 11.1% of Provident Trust Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Provident Trust Co.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $539,633,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Meritage Group LP increased its position in Alphabet by 1,061.5% during the 3rd quarter. Meritage Group LP now owns 302 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares during the period. Macroview Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 165.8% during the third quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 319 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 199 shares during the period. Armor Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 31.0% during the fourth quarter. Armor Investment Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. IAG Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 55.9% in the fourth quarter. IAG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 343 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $55,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.80, for a total value of $3,753,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,280,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $380,389,234.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.80, for a total value of $3,753,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,280,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $380,389,234.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total transaction of $6,597,125.94. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,777,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $243,854,485.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 275,129 shares of company stock worth $40,382,765 over the last three months. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on Alphabet from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. JMP Securities upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Roth Mkm lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $164.00 to $202.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $155.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $190.60.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $167.24 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $2.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 2.15. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $150.14 and its 200 day moving average is $142.36. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $103.97 and a one year high of $174.71.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $66.04 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.17 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th.

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.