Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Bought by Greenleaf Trust

Greenleaf Trust lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 306,541 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,409 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 0.4% of Greenleaf Trust’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. Greenleaf Trust’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $47,404,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wealth Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 1,582 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $299,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. Eagle Capital Management LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 50,132 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,490,000 after purchasing an additional 371 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $20,886,000 after buying an additional 4,110 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,826,000 after acquiring an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Highview Capital Management LLC DE raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 29,100 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,509,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group set a $195.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. BNP Paribas lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and set a $203.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $189.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.82.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.2%

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $182.00 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $171.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $173.13. The stock has a market cap of $2.21 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 261,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,844,050. This trade represents a 3.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $456,991,919.84. This represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 182,943 shares of company stock valued at $31,223,348. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

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.